


The Neighbourhood

by p0pcandy



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Angel is like 7, August lives with his mom, Everyone else is slightly younger too, Jack is a good dad, Jack is still a programmer, Janey/Athena is mentioned, M/M, Rhys and Vaughn are room mates, Rhys is mid 20's, Tags to be added, This is like a bad 80's flick, Younger Jack, and by fluff i meant jack teasing the shit outta rhys, because Angel deserved better, drugs were mentioned too, he's like in his 30's or something in this, i guess, it's starting to get spicy, like heavily drinking, maybe even E, most of this is fluff right now, rating will get M later on, some characters will come in later in the chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-06-09 23:27:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6928723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p0pcandy/pseuds/p0pcandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new neighbour has moved into the small Culs-de-sac that Rhys lives with Vaughn! It so happens this new /neighbour/ is the guy of Rhys' dreams.<br/>Jack is just a simple single divorced father, and... well let's just say the Neighbourhood he moved into is more excitement then he would've hoped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to the Neighbourhood!

Rhys moved uncomfortably in his bed, the soft morning sun shone through the messily closed blinds and the trucks outside his window roared as they started up and people yelled to each other. Rhys furrowed his eyebrows as he sat up. Really? What time was it? He checked the clock and much to his dismay it was around 5. Gritting his teeth as he got up he made his way over to the blinds and pushed about 3 down with his fingers to peak outside. Oh great someone was moving into the house across the street from him. One of the men unpacking the truck carried out a box and set it down outside the truck swiftly smoothing his already perfect hair back as he looked over to...Rhys? Oh crap he was staring wasn't he. He quickly moved away from the blinds it giving a small click as it resumed its position. He shuffled around the room and tried to stay out of the line of sight of the window. He took a few deep breaths and hoped whoever that was in fact _didn't_ see him.

**Ding Dong**

Rhys jumped at the sudden noise and put his hands up before slowly trying to regain his composure. Whoever that was definitely _did_ see and Rhys was freaking out internally. He shuffled into some sweats as he hurried to the door, making sure his roommate Vaughn didn't answer it first. He reached out for the doorknob and opened it swiftly. He looked at the man before him broad shoulders, perfect face, and- and oh god he was staring again wasn't he?

Rhys heard the man chuckle and it was like angels singing until he heard his voice and it was like god himself.

"Jesus kiddo." The man laughed smoothing back his hair again, "Caught ya' staring and I just had to say I'm sorry if we woke you up. We just moved here so-" The man had slowly looked Rhys up and down, noting he had put on his sweats backwards. Clearing his throat he looked back up to Rhys' face with a smile. "So uh... we're neighbors now I guess."

"Yeah...." Rhys murmured out still captivated by the sight in front of him. I mean who wears a suit at 5 in the morning? It looked nice on him though he wasn't going to lie. Rhys quickly shook his head, "I mean yeah! Yeah welcome to the neighborhood my name's Rhys."

"Rhys? Wow. Woah.... huh..." The man scratched the back of his head as if he was in thought. "This some kind of posh neighborhood?"

"Uhh... no..." Rhys stepped back a little, "No not at all. Just... suburban I guess."

"Huh... well... Very fancy name you got there.” the man smirked at Rhys and that made his stomach do flip-flops. "Nice to meet you Rhys, my name's Jack."

"Jack," the name rolled right out of Rhys' mouth he looked him once more over.

"Well I should get going. Those moving guys don't know how to do anything themselves am I right?" Jack laughed as Rhys staid quiet. Soon Jack stopped laughing at his own joke and cleared his throat. "Yeah so um... _bye_." Rhys nodded as he slowly closed the door.

"Jack..." he whispered under his breath.

 ---------------------------------

"Why are you so happy?" Vaughn asked with a laugh as he sat down at the table that Rhys was using to make what seemed to be gift baskets. Rhys admittedly wasn't that good at it and he didn't even know what Jack would like. It was just Jack that lived there right? Surely. He hadn't seen anyone else moving with him. What if he _had_ a wife though? Was Rhys really going to become a homewrecker just to see that Handsome man on top of him? Rhys let out a soft laugh. No. He'd leave them alone.

"YOOHOO!" Vaughn called snapping his fingers in front of Rhys' face. "Hey _Huston_ , you gonna answer my question?" Rhys let out a questioning hum with his eyebrows raised. "I said, why are you so happy bro?" Rhys looked down to the basket he was making.

"Oh nothing I just thought we'd make something for our new neighbor."

"Huh? Rhys c'mon man we hardly ever do that. The last people were Sasha and Fiona.... and even then it was just a, 'we're sorry we teepeed your house on Halloween' gift." Rhys shrugged as he tied gold looking ribbons around the basket.

"Well we want to make a good impression right? I heard they moved from out of state."

"It's not like we live in Texas, Rhys. We don't have to be friendly to everyone that walks into the neighborhood."

"Susan sure thinks she does." Rhys snapped as he huffed and picked up the gift basket. "A little _too_ friendly if you ask me. Susan is going to keep her dirty little fingers off that hunk of man meat. Damn sure."

"She's a single mother, Rhys what do you expect her to do?"

"Mind her own damn business."

"See this is why no one wants you at the neighborhood cook-outs." Vaughn said exasperated, "Wait. Wait did you say _man meat_?" His agitated tone turned into a laugh. Rhys let out a snicker himself.

"Yeah, did I mention he's hot?"

"You did now." Vaughn said standing up, "Just don't bring your hunk of man meat home while I'm here ok?"

"Whatever, he probably has a wife."

Vaughn let out a fake gasp, "You _homewrecker_. Hey mind if I come with you?" Rhys let out a simple nod. Rhys shuffled over to the front door and Vaughn followed him opening it for him. Rhys had muttered a 'thank you' as he stepped out of the house and practically ran over to Jack's. Vaughn had followed but not as fast as Rhys. When Vaughn caught up he could hear Rhys muttering to himself under his breath.

"Rhys, bro c'mon just ring the doorbell." Rhys nodded at Vaughn's words and rang the doorbell then stepped back looking to Vaughn.

"Dude I _swear_ this guy was handcrafted by fucking Angels." He whispered as he heard the door shuffle and unlock. As the door creaked open Rhys' smirk dropped as he looked down to the small girl holding the door open with her black hair to one side. She had to be at least seven. He looked to Vaughn as he looked back seeming to be holding back a laugh.

" _Rhys you homewrecker_." He whispered and looked back to the child as Rhys did the same.

"Uh...hello... Is your Mom home?" Rhys asked hoping that the little girl would just close the door and save him the embarrassment. She shook her head.

"My mommy isn't here." She rubbed the back of her head and jumped as she heard her dad's stern yell from what just had to be the kitchen.

“ _Angel_." Rhys saw Jack peer around the corner.

Jack walked over to the door and put a hand on Angel's shoulder. "What did I say about answering the door Angel?" He asked with a stern look.

Angel looked down as she pouted. "Sorry dad...” she sniffed slightly.

"Oh no no no honey don't cry, come on wait for daddy in the living room and I'll put on a show for you when I'm done talking to these strangers." Jack said with a smile as he turned her around. "Go along now." He said as he patted her back. She ran off in a fit of giggles as Jack turned to Rhys and Vaughn. "Hello boys." He let his eyes trail from Rhys' face to his arm. It lingered there for a while before he pointed to the basket. "What's that?"

Rhys smiled as he passed the basket to Jack, "This is for you! Welcome to the neighborhood." Jack looked at the basket in his hands like he was trying to look through it without opening it.

"Thanks.... You two uh..." he pointed in between Rhys and Vaughn. "Thanks...” he muttered shaking his head. “I need to get back to my daughter boys but thank you for uh..." Jack gently shook the basket. "The gift. Really warms my heart." He shut the door with an awkward smile and Rhys jumped excitedly and looked to Vaughn.

"See?! What did I say?! 10/10 right?"

"Eeeh." Vaughn said as he shrugged, "Not really my cup of tea. You can have him all to yourself." Rhys laughed as he nudged Vaughn.

"Alright buddy let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was short, and sooo sorry if it was but good news is that this is more or less and introduction. Anyway!! Thank you for reading and I'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon! contact me on tumblr @ jaych1r1.tumblr.com


	2. See this is why you're not invited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Culs-de-sac has a cook-out, and Rhys wants to introduce Jack to the other neighbours. Well sorta...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is more just a couple things that show the awkwardness between the relationship right now.  
> Lots'a flirting.  
> and dancing....

Rhys closed his laptop. For the past hour he had been typing a resume to Hyperion, which meant for the past hour all he had put down was nothing more than a few song names on an entirely separate document that he got from listening to the radio. Taking in a deep breath, he set his laptop aside and looked outside. It was pretty dark out there and, had it not been for the street lights, Rhys could have sworn he wouldn’t be able to even see his hand in front of his face. Really he suspected he was the only one up at this late hour. On a Saturday no less. Rubbing his face to try to get rid of any exhaustion, he picked the laptop off of the window sill. Though, something caught his eye. He peered out of his window, just enough to see that a light in Jack’s house had turned on. Rhys moved forward not being able to get a clear view. Curiosity taking over him, he scrambled over to a small camera that sat promptly on his desk. He turned it on, thanking whatever higher power that it still had battery as he approached his window again and tried to zoom up on Jack’s window. The camera focused and it still wasn’t that clear but Rhys could definitely make it out. It was… Jack. Well of course it was it was his house wasn’t it? Rhys pouted as he tried to stay focused on what he was doing. He seemed to be dancing. If you could call it that.

Jack rolled his hips as he reached for the bottom of his shirt, his arms crossed over each other like an x in the front of his body to help him pull his shirt up. Rhys’ breath hitched as he saw him pull off his shirt effortlessly and still with the “dance” Jack was doing. He tried to focus the camera more, “come on, come on.” He whispered a silent plea to it. His eyes shot up to the window across the street, and Jack had definitely walked right in front of the window as he was stripping. Rhys was lying if he said that the erotic dance that Jack was doing was not turning him on. He bit his lip as he pulled up the camera to his eyes to try to see Jack more clearly. Jack ran his hands down his own body and it stopped at his belt line. Rhys’ eyes were glued. Oh god were they glued, he couldn’t look away even if he wanted too, and he didn’t.

Rhys wanted to know what music was making Jack dance like that. Or who? Because he wasn’t facing the camera but he certainly was close to the window. He saw Jack’s head turn towards his house and holy crap did Rhys freak. The first thing he thought is that Jack saw. Jack had seen him  _watching_  him. He probably thought Rhys was recording him too, he was holding a camera. Rhys only knew one thing to do. Quickly he put down the camera and ran to turn off the lights. It would hide him enough right? What would Jack say? He was watching him through a goddamn camera for Christ’s sake. Making his way back over, he could still see Jack dancing while turned towards Rhys’ house.

He would be  _lying_  if he said that didn’t arouse him more. He took a deep breath and shakily held up the camera to get a better look. Jack moved to unbuckle his belt. The fluid motion of him unbuckling it was  _amazing_. Rhys watched in awe as one smooth motion of his arm Jack had pulled his belt off perfectly it was like he used it as a whip. Everything from then was in slow motion as Jack reached for the button on his pants, a firm grin plastered on his handsome face as he looked to Rhys’ house. A soft whine left Rhys’ lips as he moved closer to the window, Jack on the other hand looked so in control so amazing that it had made Rhys thumb at his sweat pants.

This wasn’t wrong right? It was fan service to him and jesus did he want to just get rid of the problem. He took a deep breath as he watched as Jack moved his pants down slightly more. Rhys could see Jack’s hips and it was almost as if… Jack was going commando. Rhys moved his own hand slowly down hoping this dance would go on. Suddenly it looked as if Jack perked up and left the frame of the window. Rhys cursed as he brought his other hand up and set down the camera. It wasn’t long before Jack’s light had turned off. Rhys just took this as a big “fuck you” from the universe as he ignored the semi in his pants.

* * *

 

Rhys took a small can of sprite from the container outside. “I know this cook-out is going to be great.”

“How do you figure?” Vaughn said raising an eyebrow as he took a small drink of what was left over of his Dr. Pepper. “Remember what happened last time?” Rhys let out an embarrassed snicker as he opened the can, it letting out a faint hiss.

“Oh come on Vaughn, I was drunk. Anyone would act like that if they were… You know.” Rhys lifted the can up to his face, “Plus, most of that wasn’t even my fault.”

“Uh-huh.” Vaughn said with a smile in his tone. “Just don’t repeat your mistakes. You don’t know what I had to do to convince Vallory to let you come.” Rhys rolled his eyes with a laugh as he looked to the children playing together and throwing water balloons at each other with happy squeals.

“C’mon Vaughn you didn’t have to convince her. I’m the  _life_ of the party.” Rhys took a long sip of his sprite as he nudged Vaughn. “Imagine a cook-out without me.”

“Hey guys!” a voice called from behind the two. Both of them turned to Sasha who was running over in a grass shirt and a coconut bra. She waved at the two and Rhys put a sheepish hand up to wave back but it was Vaughn who she hugged. It was a quick one as she pulled back and looked to Rhys. “Wow I can believe you’re here.” Rhys smiled and shook his head.

“Good to see you too Sasha. Looking good by the way.” He commented as he raised his sprite a little to her with a smirk. She put her hands on her hips.

“Looking good too… Oh! Did you guys get the flowers?”

“Flowers?” Vaughn and Rhys both asked at the same time. Sasha nodded as she pointed to her sister who was in the same get up, handing out small flower necklaces. Fiona had noticed and waved over at them.

“Woah, is everyone wearing those?” Rhys asked with a laugh, “I’m embarrassed, where’s my coconut bra?” Sasha punched him in the shoulder gently.

“The only ones wearing them are me Fi and Janey.” She responded crossing her arms, “though you would look better in one. What’s up with that get up anyway?” She waved her hand over Rhys who looked down to his tank top and jean shorts.

“Oh this?” Rhys asked as he pulled on his tank top with a smirk, “I just put whatever was the first thing I saw on.”

“More looks like you just got out of bed.” Sasha mumbled as she pointed her body to Fiona who was walking over to them now.

“Hey boys! See you don’t have your flowers.” She gave Rhys a pink flower necklace and put it around his neck then gave Vaughn a green one. “I’m kinda getting sick of handing these out actually.” She laughed softly, “Vallory told me to hand them out, she’s scary so of course I did as told.” Rhys examined the flowers before shifting his gaze slightly up.

“Where is she anyway?” Rhys murmured there was a hand on his back and he was suddenly pushed side-ways.

“In the house, where do you think?” August growled out softly to Rhys, “She’s preparing the other drinks. The alcoholic ones.” He side-eyed Rhys before moving his body to face Vaughn and Sasha. “Your friend better not streak again.” Rhys went red as he turned to August.

“I did not! Not… fully… It was just my shirt you drama queen!” Rhys crossed his arms as he looked to Vaughn and Sasha for support. Neither of them said anything as the group slowly started to disband.

“I’m not a drama queen. Just don’t like seeing guys get naked in front of at least six kids.”

“They were asleep.” Rhys retorted.

“Did somebody say naked?” He heard a voice and heavy footsteps to match them. Axton scratched his stubble and looked in between the two, “or did I miss-read something? It happens a lot.” Rhys gave Axton a small smile and wave.

“We were talking about Rhys’ little incident.” August started as his arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh that?” Axton laughed and rubbed the back of his head. Rhys rolled his eyes, oh great they were going to talk about it again. Just then his mind blanked as his eye caught Jack walking out of his house looking confused. Probably from the Luau music playing loudly as the kids ran around. Rhys felt like the whole world was starting to slow as Jack walked out of the house running a hand through his hair. He saw Jack turn his head towards Rhys just as August snapped his fingers in front of Rhys’ face. Rhys quickly shook his head as he looked to August.

“Yeah? What is it?” Rhys said almost as if he was in a hurry.

“Woah there ten million dollars. What’s got you so frantic? You’re like a scared bunny.” August had stepped back and Rhys could definitely feel Axton staring at him. With some urgency Rhys moved forward.

“Sorry, I have something to do.” Rhys walked over to where he sworn Jack had wandered off.

“More like someone.” Axton commented with a laugh. “That’s why he’s so urgent because-“ Axton looked at August’s face which looked unamused. “Ah… Anyway...”

Rhys snaked his way through the people standing around and chatting. He couldn’t find Jack anywhere. Where was he? Rhys moved past Jack’s house when he was pulled back by his shirt. He was about to retort when he noticed it was Jack. “J-Jack?” he said as he was pulled closer to Jack, it was so close. Rhys could feel the heat of Jack, even though it might’ve been the sun. Jack looked down almost immediately as he pulled away.

“Rhys what the hell’s going on here?” Jack sounded a bit unpleased, probably from all the people sitting outside listening to loud music and chatting.

“The neighborhood cook-out don’t you remember?” Jack had looked to Rhys confused.

“I… wasn’t invited.” Jack murmured glaring across the people having fun.

“It’s a neighborhood cook-out everyone’s invited.” Rhys let out a stifled laugh as he moved closer to Jack, “Come on, I got people I want you to meet.”

“I know everybody here.” Jack retorted crossing his arms, he had a grin though. “Let’s see… your friend… Bird guy… Brick shithouse…” Jack rubbed his hair back. “Ok, maybe I don’t know everybody but it’s not like I have to meet all my neighbors’ cupcake.” Rhys swore his face went red. Quickly putting a hand on one of his cheeks to rub it he laughed.

“W-Well if you’re going to live here…” Rhys whispered looking to Jack with a smile. “You should at least know about who you share the street with.” Jack looked at Rhys like he just offered a challenge to Jack.

“Fine, you show me one interesting person here and I’ll stick around for you to show me to everyone.”

“Want someone interesting hmm?” Rhys cooed. Oh god he was not doing this right? I mean he did want to flirt with Jack. Was this considered flirting? Rhys moved his hand through his hair as he pushed it back slowly. “I’m interesting.” He gave Jack a devilish smirk but it faltered when Jack returned it.

“Alright. You win.” Jack laughed and messed up Rhys hair trying to hold back more laughs. “Where do we start kiddo?” Rhys pouted at Jack as he tried to smooth back his hair again.

“Don’t call me kiddo, and we’ll start with Vaughn.” Jack just gave a small smile as he looked over the crowd, and he heard it when Jack had complained under his breath saying that this will take too long.

He complained more vocally as Rhys dragged him around from person to person introducing Jack to everyone he could. “Rhys this is tiring.” “Rhys can I get a drink?” “I need like twelve bottles of vodka.” He had introduced Jack to Vaughn and now he was tagging along, well along with Rhys and his small posse. Soon everyone was introduced. Vaughn, Sasha, Fiona, August, Vallory, because well you can’t forget to introduce the host, Axton, and the others. Rhys didn’t know that Jack knew Lilth and Roland. It generally surprised him. Lilth didn’t seem so happy about Rhys dragging Jack around and he’s pretty sure he would probably be sternly talked to later. Though that didn’t matter right now as the sun had went down to where some people had retreated back into their homes to put the kids to bed.

Now him and Jack were sitting at the small make shift bar outside Vallory’s house. Jack was actually happy and there was no way Rhys could explain how that made him feel. The stares Rhys had shot Jack, and with all that was going on he had almost forgotten that he had spied on this guy. Crap. That’s right he had spied on that guy. Rhys gulped as he turned to Jack. He wanted to tell him, to apologize because he was sure Jack had seen him spying on him. Jack on the other hand, he hadn’t said anything. So maybe he didn’t know right? It was a possibility right?

Rhys moved uncomfortably in his seat when he noticed Jack looking at him. Jack had an eyebrow raised and his stare was so… predatory. His eyes half lidded as he ran his tongue over his lips. All while staring at Rhys. He took a deep breath as he looked over to Jack, trying to hide the fact that that had almost gave him another reason to ignore Vaughn asking him not to strip at the cook-out again. Jack, as Rhys had looked to him, promptly looked away as if he just didn’t look at Rhys like he was fresh meat in a lion’s den. When Jack stood up it made Rhys want to stand up after him and try to get him to take him into his house.

“I’m going to go dance.” Jack said with a smile as he pointed a single finger gun at Rhys and pretended to fire.

“Don’t wait up.” Rhys said sighing as he rubbed his face. Jack walked off to the small place where other were dancing to the Luau music that was still playing. He heard someone sit beside him and he looked up with a frown.

“Hey,” Athena moved a drink towards Rhys. “So, how did you meet Jack? He just come up to you?” She questioned as Rhys put back the drink.

“Yeah actually. Came right up to my house.” He set the drink down with a clank as he turned to Athena. “How did you meet him?” Athena looked away as she slowly drank her own drink.

“Work.” She answered simply. Just like Athena, Rhys had thought as he looked to where Janey was dancing, and not too far away, Jack. His eyes kept steady on him as Jack swayed his hips with what Rhys could only classify as a sincere smile. Jack had felt Rhys’ eyes on him apparently as he shifted his body towards where Rhys was sitting and promptly stopped dancing.

“Hey Rhys! Wanna join?!” Rhys let out a soft laugh as Jack called to him.

“No thanks, I don’t dance.” Rhys said and Jack had put a hand on his hip.

“Party Pooper.” Jack called, crossing his arms. “Come on! I may dance badly, but you being up here will make me feel better because you probably dance like shit!” Did he really expect Rhys to just get up and join? Rhys scoffed and looked to Athena who nodded her head to the dance floor.

“You gonna let him demean you like that?” She added giving Rhys a smile. “Go on, I think the dance floor is calling both of us.” Rhys laughed at Athena’s words.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sadly only one of us is official.” He said with a wink as he stood, “Go to your girlfriend and tear this street up.” Athena had laughed and that made Rhys feel even happier as they both headed to the dance floor, going to the people who wanted them there.  _Jack_  wanted Rhys there. When Rhys approached Jack moved closer to him in a slight sway.

“Ever danced with a pro cupcake?” Jack asked as he moved a hand around Rhys’ waist and pulled him closer.

“You a pro? I don’t believe it.” Rhys said sarcastically, trying to ignore the blush coming to his face.

“Oh believe it Rhysie.” Jack whispered. Jack was so close, almost like when he had pulled Rhys aside, but this? This was way better. Rhys smirked at Jack as the older man twirled him around to the Luau music. Jack laced his hand in Rhys’ as they danced and Rhys swore he had to catch his breath.

“You sure this is a Luau type dance?” he laughed with a small smile. Jack shook his head as he twirled Rhys away then towards him, Rhys’ back against Jack’s chest when he pulled him back. Jack gracefully untwirled him and pulled him back into the small sway of a dance they had.

“It’s not, but I’ve never been to an actual Luau.” Jack commented as he pulled Rhys closer to his chest, “Ball dance though? Definitely.” Rhys moved his other hand that wasn’t intertwined with Jack’s to Jack’s shoulder.

“You don’t strike me as the type to ball dance.” Rhys said cocking his head to the side.

“That’s because you under estimate me Rhysie.” Jack said with a laugh as he moved slightly away from Rhys leading him in a clumsy waltz. “Ever been French dipped before?”

“No actually I-EUUGH” Rhys was moved backwards, Jack gripping tighter to Rhys’ hand and back as he leaned in near Rhys’ face. His eyes were wide as he watched Jack give a smirk to him. Rhys closed his eyes slowly as he leaned up. Suddenly he was pulled back into the waltz with Jack. Jack seemed amused and he moved his body slightly away from Rhys until they were just standing in front each other. Rhys took in a few shallow breaths as he tried to read Jack’s expression.

“You afraid of falling or something cupcake?” Jack asked and slightly bit his lip and his body was again, mere meters away from Rhys’ “Don’t worry babe. You’re safe with me.” Rhys had to run that through his brain a few times before nodding. Jack again pulled back and laughed as he messed up Rhys’ hair again. This made Rhys hiss and try to fix it up as Jack still was messing with it.

“It’s been fun kid-…Rhys, but I have work tomorrow so I’m going to hit the hay.” Rhys watched as Jack waved then walked back to his house. Finally after sitting there as if that did  _not_ happen, he started to walk off towards his own house.

* * *

 

Rhys held onto the water hose and yawned as he turned on the water. As he was watering the grass, he turned his eyes to Jack's house. Rhys hadn't seen him since the cookout. His daughter would wait at the bus stop at the corner often, but Rhys never saw Jack other than when he left for work. Rhys yawned again. He heard some clicking behind him then he turned to Vaughn, who was starting up the lawn mower.

It was a perfect Sunday morning. Susan had went off for church that morning with her four sons, leaving the culs-de-sac in peace. Birds were chirping and the sun radiated a soft and warm light. Slowly Rhys switched his gaze to the small patch of flowers he thought about watering. “Nice day huh?” Vaughn’s words snapped Rhys back into reality.

“Huh? Oh... Yeah I guess so.” Rhys murmured as he let the water run through the grass. Vaughn had went quiet as the lawn mower hummed loudly.

“You ok Rhys?” Vaughn asked over the noise. Rhys held up a hand to signal a sort of ‘yes’ to Vaughn. His eyes trailed over to Jack’s garage as it opened, Rhys' face almost brightened up a little too quickly. So quickly that Vaughn had noticed and turned off the lawn mower, giving Rhys a scowl. “Really? Is this all about him?” There was a soft scoff from his friend. “I don’t know what you see in that guy.” Vaughn lent on the handlebars of the lawn mower as he looked to Jack too.

Jack didn’t let the attention go unnoticed as he pulled a bucket and his own water hose behind him. “Heya boys!” He called as he waved before setting down said things by his car. “Nice day huh?” even from where Rhys was standing he could see Jack grinning at them. Rhys didn’t return the grin and he looked back to the flowers.

“Yeah. It is.” Vaughn called over to Jack with the same expression that Rhys had. Jack seemed to focus too much on Rhys, that he didn’t even hear what Vaughn had said. He wanted to walk over to him, Rhys usually was looking at him or even watching him like a hawk. But now he was pretty much ignoring him. He didn’t mind his friend ignoring him but the way Rhys ignored him made him feel something. Not a good something either.

Rhys on the other hand just had a lot on his mind. Mostly Jack was just on his mind, but holy crap did he hate small talk. He wanted to go back to last week where Jack was flirting with him calling him nicknames. Boys? I mean Rhys knew Vaughn was there and he knew Jack didn’t remember names but… he let his gaze shift behind him. Vaughn was now mowing the lawn again as since it was quite small it was almost done. What really caught his eye though? Jack.

Jack had taken off his shirt and was starting to wash down his car. The tilt of his head towards Rhys made him jump slightly and look away as quickly as he could. Soon the lawn mower had stopped, and now Rhys could clearly hear the popular song station playing what Rhys knew was “Want to Want Me”. He had heard the song play so many times from hanging out with Sasha and Fiona. All they would play is songs like that. Rhys moved his body so he slightly faced Jack as he watched him rub soap on the car. Jack seemed so ecstatic just to have Rhys’ eyes back on him. Rhys started to feel himself go slightly numb as some of the soap ran down Jack’s body as he heard the hearty laugh from Jack.

Taking a deep breath he put the hose in the direction of the flowers trying his best not to make a swamp of the freshly cut lawn. Vaughn had went into the garage, he probably said something to Rhys but he was distracted. Way to distracted. Jack knew he was distracted too. The way Jack moved his body to the music and ran his hand over the water hose in a seductive manner. Rhys gulped and tried not to focus on that as he looked from the hose up to Jack’s face.

“Hey! Don’t drown the flowers Rhys!” Vaughn yelled from the garage. Rhys perked up and looked to the flowers, letting out a soft hiss as he moved his thumb over the hose’s tip to stop the water from coming out. His gaze moved back to Jack who was now sitting on his car, the water running over his body and that grin from him. Rhys could feel his face start to heat up as he slightly moved his body more towards Jack taking a few deep breaths. Jack moved his hands up his body and flipped back his head as more water spilled over him. Rhys knitted his eyebrows because he knew that there was definitely a visible bulge in his pants and Jack must’ve known too.

Jack moved his legs slightly apart as he moved down the car. Rhys’ breath was short as he watched the older man get on his knees and move one hand down to his soaked jeans. The water still going over his head and down his body. It was seriously a miracle Jack looked  _that_  good. Rhys started to chew on his lip as Jack popped the button on his jeans with a smirk in Rhys’ direction. He moved his hips in a slowly roll upwards while keeping eye contact with Rhys. Rhys shifted himself too quickly, moving his thumb off of the pressured tip of the hose where water spurt across the lawn. There was silence from both of them as the music droned on in the background. Rhys quickly went to turn off the hose is a sort of shuffle. He swore he could hear Jack laughing his ass off behind him. He gritted his teeth and tried to make sure the hardness in his pants wasn’t visible as he turned back after twisting the nozzle making the water stop.

Jack wasn’t there. He went back into his house satisfied that he had teased the kid into making a water hose give him the euphemism he needed. This was all to fun to mess with Rhys, even if it meant getting soaked and having to hit his head to get some excess water out of his ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!! I might be posting art soon for this obvs @ jaych1r1.tumblr.com so if ya wanna either chat or see some art work and such it's there!!


	3. I'm going to see a lot more of you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First off we get to see a little more Angel, because I love her... and one of Susan's 4 sons.   
> Oh and more of Jack teasing Rhys of course!! ;)  
> Also this has more of a Jack perspective!!

“Hey! Give her back!” Angel yelled jumping up and down trying to get the stuffed pony back from the taller boy.

“ _Give her back_ ,” the boy mocked in a higher pitched voice. “If you want her back so bad then why don’t you grab her huh?”

“Hey! Stop picking on her!” came a voice from behind Angel. She turned her tear stained face back to a teenage red-haired girl who was walking over, followed by a smaller blonde.

“What’re you gonna do about it?” The boy asked with a huff, “You guys are just a bunch of girls.” The red hair girl crossed her arms in annoyance.

“Ooooo, now you’ve done it Jimmy,” the blonde piped up with a laugh. “Ya’ bout to get your as-“

“Tina,” The red head warned with a gaze pointed to Angel.

“Asterisk beat boy.” Tina finished, sticking out her tongue. “That better Gaige?”

“You know it. So Jimmy,” Gaige sent a smile in his direction, “You asked what I’m gonna do about it right?” Tina gave another giggle as she jumped over to Angel.

“Watch this, we’ll get that pony back for you in no time Gaige has some sweet butt kicks and Jimmy just got on her bad side!” Angel gave a weary look to Tina then to Gaige. It took almost no time for Gaige to charge at the boy and kick his arm, making him throw the pony across the street. It landed behind a fence to a house and Angel squeaked.

“Sorry!” Gaige called before shoving the boy down and pinning him. “Eat gravel pony stealer!” she yelled.

“Hey let me go!!” Jimmy squirmed under Gaige’s hold. Tina laughed and rushed over as the boy cried out pleas.

“Dog pile!”

“Tina no!” Gaige was pushed down by the sudden force, trapping both her and Jimmy even more. Angel didn’t look anymore as she ran back into her house.

“Daddy!” She cried out as the door slammed behind her. She turned her attention to the living room where an old looking movie was playing, and more importantly, Jack was sleeping. She crawled up into his lap and tried to shake him. “Dad! Dad wake-up!” When he didn’t Angel’s eyebrows furrowed and she held onto his nose, causing Jack to bound up with a loud snort. Angel nearly fell back, but Jack caught her in time.

“Angel- what the h- Don’t do that baby girl.” Jack grumbled as he moved a little back and set Angel down gently. “What is it darling?”

“Buttstalion fell into someone’s yard!” Jack let out a snort but he quickly fixed his expression when he saw Angel’s worried look. “What if they have a dog?!” Jack looked slowly over Angel’s face then to the door.

“Ok, ok which house? I’ll get your pony back.” He gave Angel a small smile when she squeaked with excitement, Angel bolted out the door back into the yard. Jack grunted and got up, his back let out a few pops as he straightened it out. Outside the kids could be heard screaming, Jack grew curious and he peeped his head out of the door. He saw a mess unfold before him, two young girls were shouting and pretty much beating up a boy.

“Hey! Hey!” he yelled with wide eyes, catching their attention. He quickly ran over, he stopped before them as they all stood straight up and looked to the ground sheepishly. “What the heck are you kids doing?” he said, looking between the three. Jack looked down to the sudden weight on his leg. Angel stared back up to him with a pout. Giving a huff, he looked back to the kids and scanned over them for any visible injuries. The girls where mostly unscathed, but the boy had what looked to be almost a black eye. “Jesus I am not trained for this.” He grumbled looking to the girls for an explanation as he pointed to the boy.

“He was teasing that little girl sir,” Tina started, “Gaige jumped him and gave him a shiner!” Jack looked shocked for a second before looking to Gaige.

“ _You_ kicked his-….” Jack looked to the boy then, “You were picking on my Angel?” His voice suddenly got gruff as he took a step forward. “Oh you are so lucky you’re the age you are.” He grumbled, putting a protective hand on Angel. “You all leave and go back home.” He looked to the two girls with a glare, but it quickly softened, “Thank you for protecting Angel.” With that he let Angel lead him off again to where her toy had fallen. Jack’s eyes trailed over the house, something about it seemed all too familiar. His eyes widened when he realized why.

“Honey are you sure it was this house?”

“Yup.” She replied, stopping in front of the drive-way.

“Like… For sure for sure?”

“Dad…” Angel whined pointing to the house, “What if they have doggies?!”

“Right, right sorry.” Jack gulped and stepped forward. He then quickly, as if he was in a rush to get out of there, walked up to the door and gave a few firm knocks. If he was lucky the person, the he was attempting to avoid wouldn’t answer. It’s not he didn’t like him, it was just Jack had just woken up. Let alone it was a Monday that both him and Angel had off, so he didn’t have the best attire on. Though it seemed his luck was pretty much gone as the door opened and he had to quickly draw back his hand.

“God what do you want it’s like what? Like…” Heterochromatic eyes fell on one another as they both went silent.

“My… My daughter’s toy fell in your backyard.” Jack smoothed back his hair with a sheepish smile. Rhys softly laughed as he leaned on the doorframe.

“No hi or nothing huh?” Unlike Jack, Rhys was dressed in almost what could be described as formal attire. Jack’s eyes lingered before looking back into Rhys’ eyes.

“H..Hi… Toy? The toy?” Jack pointed away from Rhys’ sight. Rhys gave a small pout and shifted his body off the frame.

“Alright… I’ll go try to find it.” He closed the door in Jack’s face as he walked off. Why the hell did Rhys look so fancy? It bothered Jack a little but he knew that asking would just carry on the conversation and he’d rather not look like a slob while talking to Rhys who was in a suit, something that was usually the other way around. Well… Rhys never looked like a slob he just looked less professional. Usually wearing shorts and tank-tops or tee-shirts and sweats, and even in those he was killing the look. Jack though? I mean he could pull off the sweats look but with the slightly stained tee-shirt he was wearing he looked like he just rolled out of a dumpster. The door opened again and Rhys held out a stuffed pony.

“This the toy?” Jack quickly snapped out of his trance and looked over the pony, checking for any damage and other than some dirt it looked perfectly fine.

“Yes- Yeah thanks.” Jack reached out to take the toy back and his hand brushed against Rhys’. He looked up to Rhys, who grew rigid. Rhys didn’t breathe as he kept his eyes on his hand. Jack tried his best not to laugh. It was good to know that even if he looked like total crap, Rhys still went breathless at the slightest touch from him. “Goodbye cupcake.” He cooed stepping slightly back.

“h-huh? Oh yeah- ah goodbye Jack.” Rhys said embarrassed as he slammed the door shut. Jack even heard the click of the lock. It made him give out a soft snort as he walked back over to Angel and crouched down offering the toy to her, which she took and happily squeaked along with “Thank you dad!”

“You’re welcome munchkin.” He said with a laugh and softly rubbed Angel’s head, messing up her hair slightly.

* * *

 

Today was a hassle for Jack, it had all started out with Angel, who refused to get out of bed despite Jack’s best attempts to coax her out of it. Next, Tassiter was up his ass all day, telling him things he already knew about his more than _flawless_ coding. So what if the machine blew up? It wasn’t all his fault. He turned the key in the ignition of his car, a soft whir continued without end as he twisted the key. He stared at the car for a second and tried to twist the key again, the engine whirred once more and refused to ignite.

_Great._

Of course his ex-wife had to take the _good_ car. He was stuck with this beat up hunk of junk. Hitting the steering wheel with his hand while cursing to himself, he tried once more to start the car. After pulling out his phone, he figured he had three options. Either calling his wife and having to sit through her telling him his “flaws” _again_ , calling a tow truck of which he didn’t want to waste money on, or calling someone from work. His hand hovered over Athena’s contact for a good while before he kept scrolling, coming to a name he forgot was in his phone at all. He gave a small smirk and called the person up, putting the phone to his ear. Granted the other person probably didn’t have his number in their phone, so he had no idea if they would actually pick up.

“Hello?” Well, it looked like Jack’s luck was starting to change.

“Hey Rhys, I was wondering if-”

“Jack?! H-How did you get my number?!”

“That’s a long story cupcake, maybe another time. Anyway, like I was saying would it be ok if you came and picked me up?” There was silence on the other end for a while before the other finally spoke.

“Why?” Rhys’ voice was drawn out like he was suspicious of Jack’s intentions. Jack looked at the blinking light on his car then shifted his gaze out the window.

“Because uh… Because my car broke down.” Jack cleared his throat. There was a short laugh on the other end followed by a ‘sorry’.

“No one’s there to help you? Anyone going to their cars possibly- I mean you’re at work right?” Rhys said, trying to give Jack slight pointers on what to do. “I would help Jack I really would but…”

“But?” Jack pushed on. He heard Rhys shift along with something like a door opening.

“I’m kind of busy,” Rhys mumbled to Jack and then silence. Jack checked his phone a few times to check that the kid didn’t hang up. It was obvious he didn’t but the silence continued.

“Rhys? You still there?”

“Alright, yeah I’ll do that sir.” Rhys’ voice came back over the receiver, followed by the sound of a door shutting. Was that little twerp at work? At this hour? Did he even have a job? That sounded like a job to Jack. Like an office job, almost similar to the one he had possibly. “Jack, I am really sorry but I can’t bail right now. It’s only my-” Rhys shuffled again, “second day and I really don’t want to get on the boss’s bad side.”

“Yeah, I got you kid.” Jack was quiet for a second then quickly fixed his posture, “I didn’t know you had a job.”

“I work at Hyperion- or at least now I do. Like I said- I really shouldn’t be on the phone with you,” Jack smirked and gave a soft chuckle. So the kid worked for Hyperion huh?

“What division?” Jack asked, maybe it was possible they worked together after all. He never told anyone he worked with Hyperion.

“Why are you asking?” Rhys retorted, causing Jack to give a soft chuckle once more.

“I work at Hyperion too you dope. Maybe if you work in the same building you can go for a little ‘break’ and help me out. In fact-” Jack looked around the parking lot, trying to spot Rhys’ car. A light blue ford focus caught his eye. _Bingo._ “I see a little light blue focus sitting not too far from me. That’s yours is it not?”

“No. I-I mean yeah it’s probably mine but Jack I can’t just waltz out of my job because you’re having a little trouble.”

“Then I’ll waltz in. Which floor you on pumpkin?”

“No, no you are not coming up here.” Rhys said, he sounded like he was getting up. “What would you even do if you came up here?”

“Simple. Get your keys.” Jack shrugged even though Rhys couldn’t see him. “Can you just help me jump start this piece of junk and I’ll leave you alone.”

“I…” Rhys seemed frozen on the other end, just like a while ago when he had said nothing.

“Uh… still there pumpkin?” Jack checked his phone again with a glare, “Listen, can you just help me get out of here?”

“Can’t you wait until I’m off?” Rhys whispered, seemly under his breath.

“I have to get home to Angel, seven year-olds can’t do much for themselves you know.”

“I could make myself a sandwich when I was seven. If it’s so bad that you can’t wait thirty more minutes Jack, then why don’t you just call a cab or get an uber or something?” Jack went quiet this time. What the hell was an uber? He shook his head, Jesus kids these days.

“I don’t feel like spending money.” Jack said gruffly, taking his keys out of the ignition. “I’ll wait. Any longer than thirty minutes and I’ll come up there and kick your ass out the window. Got it?”

“Got it.” Rhys murmured then hung up. Jack sat in his car for what he was sure was around ten minutes before he decided to pay Rhys a visit. He checked his watch quickly for the time, around 6:20 pm. _Great_. Angel was probably worried sick. Jack frowned and went through his phone to call Rhys again. It rang about three times before Rhys picked up.

“Can you leave yet?” Jack asked with deadpanned tone.

“No, Jack. No I can’t.” Rhys was moving papers around on the other end, “You’re not very patient are you?”

“No, I’m not. What floor are you on?” Jack looked back to his watch as he walked back into the building.

“I don’t think I should have visitors while I’m working.” Rhys sighed clearly over the phone, “Jack just wait in your car, it won’t take that long I swear.” Jack stopped in his tracks and pushed a button to call the elevator. 

“I’m not waiting anymore. Angel is probably worried sick.” Jack sighed as the soft ding of the elevator went through the room. “Just tell me what floor you’re on Rhys.”

“Fifth… Happy?”

“Securities propaganda? Really? You work for Henderson? That asshole?” Jack walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor. “Why?”

“He’s not an asshole…” Rhys murmured, “Is… Is he?”

“He’s like a massive racist.” Jack said watching the numbers flick by, “Which office you in?”

“What?”

“Like cubical thing- Just where is your location Rhys?” The elevator stopped and the doors opened, Jack wasted no time as he started to walk quickly to where he guessed Rhys probably was.

“Jack this really isn’t necessary.” Rhys seemed to stand up and it sounded as if now he was walking.

“Ok, either I sit down there in my own shit car and think about how worried Angel probably is or I-” a door opened near Jack and he turned quickly. Just in time to see Rhys, who seemed to look scared for a second before he quickly closed the door. Jack hung up the call and made his way to the door. “Rhys let me in before I make a scene.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Rhys’ voice on the other side called out.

“Oh, I would dare.” Jack said turning the knob, and surprisingly it opened. He walked in and closed the door behind him. “There was that so hard?” he smiled at Rhys who fiddled with his hands.

“I get off in fifteen minutes Jack… You really just could have waited.” Rhys moved aside a little and Jack looked at his desk with a snort.

“What, and miss seeing you?” Jack winked at Rhys which made the younger man freeze in his tracks, earning a laugh from Jack. Oh how he loved teasing the kid.

“Y-You really shouldn’t be here.” Rhys whispered while walking back to his desk. “Really, I’m sure if you just went back to your car I’d be down there in no time.”

“Rhysie that sounds way too tedious.” Jack stretched himself out, a few pops here and there. “Plus, who the hell is in Helios at this hour?”

“Uh me and my _boss_.” Rhys squinted at Jack when he sat on the desk.

“So?”

“So you shouldn’t be here.” Rhys started to work on some papers again and Jack moved himself a little to face Rhys.

“I thought you would like my company.” Rhys froze in his actions and swallowed hard, making Jack raise an eyebrow.

“Y-Yeah, having a friend at work to talk to is nice and all but…” Rhys swallowed again and his eyes trailed Jack. Rhys probably thought that he wouldn’t catch that. Oh was he ever wrong. Jack smirked and trailed a finger across the desk.

“But?” he cooed.

“B-But you’re distracting me and I think that if- because the-” Rhys shuffled his papers and looked to his computer. Jack let out a laugh and hopped off his desk.

“Alright, alright. I’ll let you work.” Rhys looked to Jack with a smile as to say thank you, “I’m not leaving.”

“What- But you said-”

“Ah ah. I know what I said. I said I’d let you work, not leave.” Jack shot a grin in Rhys direction, “What? Am I really _that_ distracting to you Rhysie?”

“I’m just… not used to people watching me work.” Rhys looked over Jack again, his gaze lingering at Jack’s lower half. This kid really _didn’t_ know that Jack was watching his every move did he? Jack leant his body against the wall and moved his legs more out.

“Really?”

“Yeah… Really.” Rhys moved his chair to block Jack away from his vision. “I’ll just ignore you until I get this work done then.”

“Yeah that sounds like a plan that will work.” Jack laughed when Rhys let out a soft whine.

“I just can’t keep talking to you when I have work to do.” Rhys turned his chair around to Jack, “Can you _please_ just leave?”

“Nah.” Jack yawned and checked his nails, “Just work. I won’t bother you.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever you want kid.” Jack let his eyes lazily look at Rhys, who then turned around and went back to work. Not more than two minutes later, Jack spoke up again. “How did you get an office like this anyway? I thought you’d be in a cubical.”

“You said you wouldn’t bother me.” Rhys sounded a little frustrated as he turned back to Jack.

“I lied, answer my question.” Jack walked closer to Rhys. Enough to make him move his chair back.

“I work as Henderson’s assistant.”

“What?” Jack looked a little shocked but it quickly diminished, “How’d the hell did you get an assistant job? Not to sound rude but-”

“Don’t say that because you’re going to say something rude.” Well, Rhys wasn’t wrong at least. Jack pursed his lips, keeping his gaze on Rhys. “I worked really hard to get this job. It’s not even the one I wanted, sure it pays well but I kind of wanted to be in something with robotics.”

“I could have guessed from the arm.” Jack said, pointing to it. Rhys moved it up to look at it then Jack.

“I mean… kind of?” Jack took the arm and moved up the sleeve, looking at the model closely.

“Hey, I know this model.” Jack looked at it again, more thoroughly, “I programmed this sucker.” He patted it and let Rhys pull it away from him. Rhys looked utterly in shock.

“You… _You_ programmed this?” Rhys looked at his robotic hand before looking back to Jack. “No way.”

“Yes way, what? Don’t think I’m capable of making something that cool Rhysie?” Rhys checked out his arm once more.

“I just… It was unexpected. So you really made this?”

“Well, programmed it and chose the colors but yeah! I made it. Cool huh?”

“Yeah…” Rhys seemed lost in thought before he shook his head quickly, “I-I mean yeah! It’s- _wow_.”

“I know right!” Jack smiled and sat up on Rhys’ desk again, “That thing was a _pain in the ass_ to code. It smacked me a couple of times.” That drew a soft laugh from Rhys as he looked up to Jack.

“Really now?”

“Yeah, hit me on the head and gave me a terrible headache for at least the rest of the day.” Jack reached down and took Rhys’ flesh hand. “Look, you can feel _right_ where it hit me too.” He pulled Rhys’ hand onto the side of his face, watching the kid go red and hold his breath. Rhys looked to his hand then into Jack’s eyes. Jack saw this as a chance, he leant down slowly and he saw Rhys’ eyes widen even more. Right before he was close enough to kiss Rhys he caught a glimpse of the clock on Rhys’ computer. While leaning back up he pointed to it. “Look at that! Time to go. Right?” Rhys made a weird noise between a whimper and a gulp. Rhys slowly looked to the clock.

“Oh y-yeah I guess it is.”

“Good! Let’s get me back home. I’m worried for my baby girl.” Jack moved off of Rhys’ desk as he watched him pack up his things in a rush. Rhys shut off his computer and picked up his coat off of the back of his chair.

“I’m ready.”

“Took you long enough.” Jack patted Rhys on the shoulder and then put his hand on Rhys’ upper back to lead him out of the building. Rhys just looked at the ground the whole way and didn’t speak. Once at Jack’s car he broke away from his lead to go over to his own car and drove it besides Jack’s. Jack opened the hood of his car and waited for Rhys to get out of his car and do the same. While they worked to get Jack’s car working it was rather quiet. Jack felt like he should speak up and say something but he didn’t. He didn’t even when they had got the car working and Rhys was putting the jumper cables away. He ran his hand through his hair when he finally decided to speak up as Rhys closed his hood.

“Thanks for that by the way.”

“No problem Jack, you should get it replaced.” Rhys’ voice was monotone as he looked to Jack.

“The car? I don’t think I have enough saved up right now.”

“No, the battery. It probably crapped out on you.” Rhys sat on the hood of his car, crossing his arms. What, did he expect Jack to say anything more? It’s not like that awkward moment really made him want to open up and start talking again.

“Yeah…” Jack looked over his car one more time then slowly back to Rhys. “I want to thank you, how about you come to my house and we can watch a movie or something.”

“What like Netflix and chill?” Rhys scoffed and rubbed his hair back.

“Yeah,” Jack said with a slight smile. Rhys seemed to choke on his own spit, looking at Jack with widened eyes.

“W-What? Like really? _Really_?” Rhys was starting to smile a little, his face turning a slight shade of pink. It was a cute look for the kid.

“Mhmm.” Jack gave a wink and pretended to fire a finger gun at Rhys, who clutched his chest like Jack had actually shot him. “See you on Thursday kiddo.”

“S-See you!” Rhys squeaked as Jack got into his car and backed up, driving off to his house. He would probably have to pick a good movie to watch, popcorn or something. Maybe he’d even find out what exactly about watching a movie made Rhys act like that. He guessed the whole house thing, since neither one of them had invited the other to their house. Jack took in a deep breath with a smile. He wasn’t even really sure what Netflix was, but hey, the kid wants to watch a movie why not find out. He was pretty behind in terms of what was popular on the internet. He hadn’t had a chance to even get a peak when he married his ex-wife. His first wife, sure he was able to get on then when he wasn’t busy with work. He’d tell her jokes from it and he would enjoy it when her face lit up. His ex-wife never really laughed at them. Sure it was childish humor but he found it funny. His ex-wife was old school though. It’s not like she was even older than him, she just never really enjoyed T.V. or the internet. So Jack put it behind for the sake of going through a divorce. Didn’t stop her though. Jack grumbled to himself and looked behind him, hoping to spy a focus on his tail but there wasn’t one.

Once Jack had pulled into his driveway he shut off his car and went straight for the door, he unlocked it and flung it wide open. “Angel?!” he called out. He made his way to the living room where he saw Angel sleeping soundly on the couch, a bag of Cheetos beside her. Grabbing up the bag and rolling it up, he shook Angel slightly. “Hey honey, Daddy’s home.” She opened an eye and stretched, letting out a yawn.

“Daddy?” she asked softly.

“Yeah, I’m finally home. Are you alright?” Angel gave a nod. “Thank god.” Jack whispered and held onto his daughter. “I’ll go make us some dinner and then you can go back to bed alright?”

“Uh-huh.” Angel said with another yawn as her dad pulled back from the slight hug and walked off to the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! I know I know it's so weird to have Jack /not/ know a meme but hear me out, it'll get very interesting next chapter! Thanks for sticking around!! Also, you can contact me @ jaych1r1.tumblr.com  
> I don't bite I promise \\(' w '


	4. What is a "Netflix"?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys gets disappointed, but hey at least there's more cute tiny Angel!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oohoooo man, again yeah it's weird that Jack doesn't know memes but truthfully he probably only cares for the really old ones such as hamster dance... Also please don't kill me for the cockblocks alright- you'll get the smut soon.  
> Again sorry this is late, I hit a writers block after my siblings left and I got invested with other aus- BUT HEY I'm here now and I wrote this so- Enjoy

Rhys held up a dress shirt to himself in the mirror, then a tee-shirt. He should dress casual right? Maybe not too casual, but casual. Well, maybe what he wore didn’t matter that much if Jack was just going to rip it off. That was a pleasant thought. Rhys started to undress from his work uniform and put on the dress shirt, it looked better on him anyway. Wait he should take a shower right? He pulled off the dress shirt with a curse and looked at himself in the mirror. Probably should also go for better-looking boxers. Maybe tight pants too something that complemented his ass. Shaking his head, he went to go grab a towel from the cabinet. After the shower, tight pants would be hard to get on. Probably to get off too. No, no Jack looked strong he could totally get them off of him, right?

After his shower, it was a little hard to get the skinny jeans he had from about a year ago on. He tucked his dress shirt into his jeans and pushed back his hair and examined himself in the mirror.

“You look nice where ya going?” Vaughn was leaning on Rhys’ doorway drinking what looked like fruit punch.

“I'm going to get laid,” Rhys blurted out with a smile.

“Yeah uh I asked where you’re going not what you're gonna do. Unless it's going to be here. Oh god you're not going to bring them here are you?”

“Relax Vaughn. I'm going to Jack's house.”

“Thank god I don't want to hear it.”

“Who says you won't?” Rhys wiggled his eyebrows earning a disgusted retort from Vaughn.

“Whatever as long as it stops him from doing that weird porno stuff on top of that junk car.”

“You saw that?”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if the whole neighborhood did.” Vaughn gave Rhys a smile, “So what are you two going out or something?”

“Well...  _ no _ .... but maybe we will after tonight you know?” Vaughn raised an eyebrow but just shrugged.

“Not something I would do but hey, you are you and I'm not you or something... just... stay safe will ya?”

“Vaughn he's just some programmer with a daughter it's not like he kills people.” Rhys rolled his eyes and fixed his collar a little then decided to keep two buttons open.

“Alright. I'm just saying.” Vaughn stepped back with a hand raised slightly, “How are you going to get around that by the way? He has a daughter that'll be there and if you think I'm going to hear it you know she will too.” Rhys blinked and looked at Vaughn shocked. Crap. How was he going to get around that? I mean maybe Jack had a plan, right? Sure he did. Rhys took in a deep breath and smiled.

“I'm sure jack has that covered.”

“Sure he does.” with that Vaughn walked off to his room. Rhys was sure Jack had it under control after all he was the one to kind of suggest it. He would just have to trust Jack. Which he could do. Rhys finished gussying himself up and sprayed a little bit of cologne that he hardly used. 

“See ya Vaughn!” he waited for his friend to say something with a smile.

“Be safe!” Vaughn yelled to his friend. Rhys walked out of the house then and made his way to Jack's house. Giving Jack’s door a few knocks he tried to smile the best he could to hide his nervousness if he was honest it didn’t work very well. Jack took almost no time to open the door like he was waiting  for Rhys to show up.

“Cupcake! There you are!” Jack opened the door widely and let Rhys walk in, “looking good too,” Jack whistled. Rhys turned red and rubbed his hair back.

“T-Thanks,”

“So getting on to what we we're going to do-” Jack led Rhys to the living room, “I've been looking through the selections and really there's a lot of good ones, but I don't know about  _ quiet _ ones.” Rhys looked questioning to Jack and in return, he let out a snort, “It took me forever to put Angel to sleep,” 

“Oh? She's still here?” Rhys asked and scratched the back of his neck. 

“Well yeah dum dum she's always here on weekdays,”

“Weekdays?” Rhys paused and so did Jack, who looked almost paralyzed. Jack had quickly regained himself, though, waving his hand to the snacks.

“So anyway I got all this set out and it looks pretty nice doesn't? Yeah, it does, come on let's watch this movie huh?”

“Jack are you alright?” Rhys whispered, and totally had forgotten that this whole thing was about  _ trying _ to  _ bang _ Jack. Ok, well he didn't forget but he knew that it wouldn't happen if Jack wasn't feeling right. Plus the snacks and the way this was set up looked nothing like a “Netflix and Chill” session. More like an intervention setting... with snacks. 

“Yeah Rhys I'm fine, alright? Don't worry about it.” Jack slunk down in his couch and pulled one of the many blankets he had set out over him and huffed.

“You don't look fine,” Rhys whispered sitting down by Jack, thus caused a glare to be sent his way but it had softened after a second or so.

 

Jack couldn't blame the kid, he was acting a bit suspicious with the whole “I'm fine” thing. Though he didn't want Rhys to push any further. Far as Rhys knew is that Angel had a mother  _ once _ but he didn't know about the accident or the divorce or- Jack had to stop himself from thinking further as he rubbed his face and grabbed the remote to switch through his queue on Netflix, putting on the movie that he wanted to see, then after this movie he would let Rhys look for whatever he  _ desperately _ wanted to watch with Jack. Rhys kept his eyes down at his hands as it loaded up, a soft hum of intro music.

“I'm sorry,” Rhys said quietly, but loud enough for Jack to hear as the older man looked questioningly at Rhys.

“For what?”

“I felt I just needed to say that, I shouldn't have asked I'm guessing?” Jack paused the movie just as the intro scene started. 

“Rhys... There's something I need to tell you, Angel she-” Jack took a deep breath, “Well I have shared custody with my ex-wife.” Jack turned away from Rhys and played the movie again.

“Oh... I didn't know I'm sorry Jack,”

“Don't be,” Jack mumbled and turned the volume on the tv slightly louder.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. Watch the movie,”

 

Well, if this was a Netflix and Chill thing he  _ sure _ fucked it up. Part of Rhys just wanted to go home and lay on the bed and stare up at the ceiling in despair. Jack was now staring at the T.V but it didn't really seem he was that invested in what was going on. Rhys leaned himself back on the couch with a sigh, the movie droned on for at least thirty minutes when Jack had looked over. “You... You liking this so far?” Rhys just hummed and took another chip from one of the bowls Jack had laid out, which Rhys had already eaten half of. Jack had stared at Rhys for a while before Rhys noticed this was probably Jack's way of telling him...  _ well you know _ . Rhys quickly put down the bowl of chips and turned to Jack.

“I mean yeah this movie is pretty good but I wouldn't mind doing something else.”

“Like talking?” Jack asked, under his breath although it  _ had _ reached Rhys’ ears, which made him look wide-eyed at Jack with the best smile he could conjure up at that moment. The look on Jack's face though made Rhys reconsider how he was looking at Jack, instead going for a small smile.

“Yeah...talking...” Rhys droned out and turned his body away from Jack, and picking up the bowl.

“You know, we haven't talked much tonight but... I'm really liking your company.” Jack turned himself to the TV and leaned back on the couch.

“Yeah...” Rhys looked down to the chips then back up at Jack opening his mouth for a second to speak but deciding against it. 

“Just miss the days where I could just enjoy a person's presence. Ya know?”

“Yeah... I know what you mean,” 

“We need to do this more often,” Jack said, an arm stretching out and landing behind Rhys’ back, which had made him jump a little and look to Jack. 

“I-I uh... have a party at my house coming up,”

 

“Really now?” Jack laughed, which had turned into a slight sultry growl. Rhys let out a high-pitched nervous laugh when Jack had also inched a bit closer. It was the  _ best _ thing of the night. Truthfully, he had pretty much left behind the feelings of dread.  _ Ok well not completely _ . But he was working on it. It was a work in progress. He moved his other arm to take the bowl out of Rhys’ hands because he was pretty sure if he didn't Rhys would break the damn thing, and bowl shopping was  _ not _ something he wanted to do.

 

Jack had moved  _ closer _ to Rhys,  _ fricken _ closer to him. Rhys’ breath slightly hitched as the bowl he was holding onto was taken out of his hands and put on the coffee table in front of the two. “Y-Yeah, yeah at my...”

“You should text me the details then, it'd be fun.” Jack leaned back again draping his arm around Rhys’ shoulder, “Haven't been to a party in a long time actually, well not since Mo- you know what let's forget I said anything, so what type of party is this byoa? Frat?”

“J-Just a party... with friends- I have lots of friends,” Rhys rambled out earning a slightly confused look from the older man who patted Rhys’ thigh with his other hand.

“Hey don't be nervous about it. I'm bound to join more than tell you how wrong it is to do that in this type of neighborhood but hey,” Jack smirked, “That's just me,”

“There is a lot of things I want to do that's not appropriate for this neighborhood,” Rhys laughed, then sucked in a breath as he looked away wide-eyed.  _ Did he really just say that _ ?! In front of Jack no less! Who was... laughing?

“Shit kiddo you crack me up!” Jack wiped a ghost tear from his eye as Rhys whined.

“I... didn't mean it like that,” Rhys whispered gripping onto his sleeve. 

“Of course, you didn't cupcake,” Jack leaned in when Rhys turned to face Jack, “Let's get one thing clear, though, I don't care what these things are as long as Angel doesn't see any of your wild young adult things alright? No streaking next to my house,”

“Right, why would i-”

“Unless it's a weekend,”

“W-What?!”

 

Jack tried to hold back his laughter, he really did. Something like this, though, poor kid. He had heard the streaking story from Axton. At least that's what he thought his name was. Eh, it didn't matter. Jack stopped laughing enough to see Rhys looking away, down at the ground his face redder than a fresh tomato and he was rubbing his arm. With a sigh, still keeping his smile because god this kid was  _ hilarious  _ when embarrassed, he ran a finger down Rhys’ cheek to coax him to look at Jack. His finger stopped at Rhys’ chin where he lightly grabbed it and pulled Rhys a little forward, half lidding his eyes as he leaned into the younger man and ran his hand up to Rhys’ hip gripping onto it as if he was ready to pull Rhys on top of him.  _ Ok, he totally was ready to _ . Rhys let out a squeak and grabbed onto Jack's forearm, his breathing slightly getting faster as Jack leaned in a bit more,  _ just a bit more and _ -

“Dad? Can you turn that down please?” Angel’s voice was heard from the bottom of the stairs.  _ Impeccable timing Angel _ , Jack had thought to himself as he quickly pulled back from Rhys and grabbed the remote turning the movie off.  _ What? _ It was obvious Rhys wasn't watching it. He got off of the couch.

“Of course, darling, let's go back upstairs now and go to  _ sleep _ ok?” the ‘sleep' was growled and Jack cleared his throat and tried to put on a move sweeter appearance. 

  
Jack and Angel went upstairs and Rhys had to recover from the  _ near _ heart attack that had almost given him.

* * *

Rhys wadded through the party, getting stopped only once or so. Some of the guests said that they knew Rhys from class, which was odd since it had been about a year since he had graduated college. He made his way to the front door and opened it to grant himself some fresh air from the loud music and crowd inside. He didn’t expect any more people, considering it was around an hour since the party started. Though looking back at him was Jack, who was wearing some jeans and yellow sweater along with a _humongous_ smirk.

"Heya kiddo!" He said, inviting himself into the house. He let out a whistle as he scanned his eyes across the room, then turned his attention to Rhys and pointed towards the ceiling. "Music's pretty loud huh?"

"Oh uh... sorry, I can turn it down if-” Rhys knew this would come up sooner or later. He more expected Vallory or Susan though, not the man who had been haunting his mind recently. Jack laughed and Rhys gave a questioning glance.

"Nah kid keep it like this. It's bumpin'." Both of them stared at each other in silence. Jack cleared his throat as he looked around the room. "Well, you uh... have quite the party here Rhysie."

"Just invited my friends and told my friends to invite theirs." He gave Jack a small smile. “Some people from my college days too.”

"A lotta people." Jack murmured. “Didn't think a nerd like you would have these many friends."

"Yeah most of them aren't mine," Rhys said awkwardly, rubbing his cybernetic arm. “Thanks for coming by the way.”

“Well thanks for inviting me.” Jack gave Rhys’ shoulder a small smack, “C’mon it’s a party right? Were you going outside, or did you have some sixth sense I was at the door?” Jack laughed and earned a snort from Rhys.

“Yeah actually, I was going to get some fresh air.” He gestured to the door, “So uhm… Enjoy the party.” As he was walking away, Jack grabbed his arm and pulled him back a little.

“Wait, you uh- we could- the…” Jack cleared his throat as Rhys raised an eyebrow. “You ok?” He finally mused out removing his arm and scratching his cheek.

“Yeah, like I said just needed fresh air…” Rhys took a deep breath and held his arms, looking away.

“Ooh, that doesn’t look like a simple ‘need air’ face,” Jack said gesturing to the whole of Rhys’ face. “What’s up buttercup?”

“Would you… not say that it’s kinda weird.” Rhys mumbled and shrugged his shoulders, “I just had a lot on my mind, and I thought a party would get my nerves to just… screw off… You get me?”

“Oh, I get you all too well Rhysie.” Jack rubbed his chin as in thought, “The whole, ‘get wasted at a party’ thing never really worked for me.”

“What did work for you then?” Rhys had moved his body more to Jack and kept a steady eye on him as Jack moved slightly closer.

“Mostly Drugs. Like getting high you know?” Jack let out a laugh and rubbed the back of his head, “I wouldn’t recommend it.” When Jack heard a sigh from Rhys he dropped the smile he had. “I have another, though.”

“Not sure I really want recommendations from you. One might be murder.” They both sat in silence for a while before Rhys moved to walk out of the house again. “Sorry, that was uncalled for… I just need some fresh air.” Jack didn’t try to bring him back into the house.

“It was sex!” Jack yelled after Rhys but he didn’t turn around as he walked past the people in his yard as they laughed and a few wandered back into the party. Jack rubbed his face with both hands defeated as he watched Rhys.

 

Rhys heard someone approach him over the droning music and he tried his best not to look back to whoever it was. A strawberry lemonade four loko was shoved into his arm and that’s when he looked to Jack. “Hey cupcake,” Rhys looked from Jack’s face then took the drink and popped the tab, earning a hiss from the can. “Why are you on the curb?” Jack sat down by Rhys with a can of beer in his hand. Rhys didn’t answer as he took a small drink of the four loko and pursed his lips for a second. A hand rested on Rhys’ back, and that made Rhys look to Jack. “You’re missing the party you know,” Jack mumbled as he rubbed Rhys’ back.

“I know.” Rhys tried to smile and he pushed back into Jack’s touch, “You’re missing the party too by sitting out here.”

Jack snorted and put down his can, “What, and miss talking to the host himself? I’d never.” Rhys looked away with a small smile.

“You really don’t have too.”

“I wanted too.” Jack complied, moving Rhys’ body closer to his own. “I wanted to ask what was wrong.” Jack had a serious tone to his voice as he watched Rhys’ eyes dart from the party to Jack’s face.

“I have a lot on my mind.” It wasn’t a lie. Rhys had been thinking about the almost kiss the two shared. He was mostly thinking about how Jack blew it off. Looking down to avoid eye contact with Jack, he sighed. Now Jack was acting all nice to him again, still ignoring the fact they almost kissed probably. Jack pushed Rhys’ face up by the chin and studied his eyes.

“That doesn’t answer a lot of questions,” he whispered, again his face was close to his own, so close Rhys could smell the beer on his breath. He pulled back quickly as he stood.

“You know, I just changed my mind. Dancing seems the best thing to do right now.” Rhys gulped down more of his drink and turned his body away from Jack. “Doesn’t that sound fun? Dancing?” He looked back to Jack who looked confused, but none the less he stood up too.

“I thought you couldn’t dance.” He joked. Jack drank what little left there was of his beer and crunched the can against his hip. Rhys widened his eyes as he looked at the can to Jack.

“God, what are you some frat boy?”

“Isn’t this a frat party?” Jack laughed at his own joke, following Rhys who was now walking away.

“Not even close.” Rhys rolled his eyes as he walked through the door, the music getting louder around them as he weaved his way through the crowd of people dancing and jumping around to the song. When he stopped he felt Jack bump into him from behind, and what could probably be a “sorry”. He gulped down the rest of his drink and put it on the nearest table before turning to Jack who was still behind him surprisingly. They both continued to move until they were in the kitchen, where people had crowded and were scouring the fridge to get snacks and such. It didn’t matter right now, with the job from Hyperion he could get more groceries. Sure that meant him and Vaughn might be taken off food stamps, but that didn’t matter to him as right now he was trying to loosen himself up a little. If Jack was already a bit drunk, then he should too right?

“Rhys!” Sasha called, waving her hand at him. Rhys acknowledged the distraction and he walked over.

“Hey, Sash- What is that.” He looked to the big glass of pink like liquid with grapefruit what seemed to either be peaches or apple and strawberries in it. “Jesus it looks like a hangover in a bowl.”

“You said to bring extra alcohol, you never stated how _much_ alcohol.” Sasha raised an eyebrow, looking behind Rhys, “Hey you’re Jack… right?”

“You know it.” Jack did a lazy finger gun at her with a click of his tongue.

“Great, another douche added to the party.” She rolled her eyes and lifted up the glass, then handed it to Rhys. “Be careful with this, but it’s yours.”

“Really?” Rhys raised his eyebrows in worry as he took the drink. “What is this anyway?”

“Fishbowl; or uh fish cup… Whatever, I have a bigger one for everybody out there. You take that with your little leech.”

“Not a leech,” Jack said furrowing his eyebrows, “Just wanted to have a little company, because uh, you know don’t really know anyone here.” he squinted at Sasha and she glared back before Rhys shoved Jack back gently.

“Ok! Well, nice catching up! I’m going to go drink this and probably get alcohol poisoning or a really bad hangover so... thanks!” Rhys moved past Jack and started to head off towards his room, this time, he was rather glad Jack was following him because he did not want a fight to break out. Not that he actually thought that Jack would fight Sasha, but there was no way to know. He opened his door and stepped aside, Jack walked in with a whistle.

“It’s bare in here. You don’t have any posters?” Jack put his hands on his hips as Rhys closed the door behind him and started to drink out of one of the straws in the glass.

“Not like I have anything to really put posters up of.”

“Not even interested in anything?” Jack raised an eyebrow as he sat down on the bed.

“A lot of things, just not interested enough to plaster posters everywhere.” He offered Jack the other straw but he put up a hand, refusing politely.

“Not even an actor?” Jack rubbed his hand on Rhys’ bed and looked down to it. “Or a person?” Rhys let on a little smile when he plopped down by Jack, continuing to drink from the glass.

“Oh, I’m interested enough in someone to have their pictures around my room, but that would be kind of creepy don’t you think?” Jack looked at Rhys intently than the drink in his hand, which was about a third of the way gone.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. That would be creepy.” He took the drink from Rhys’ hand getting a whine from the younger man when he leant in. Jack placed the drink on the bedside table as he was leaning over. It was enough to make Rhys lean back a little, now using his elbows to sit up. Rhys kept his eyes trained on Jack’s features then moved forward, closing the distance between them. Their lips brushed together, Rhys tasted the beer on Jack’s mouth and no doubt Jack had tasted the fruit on his own. Jack was the one to deepen the kiss, moving between Rhys’ legs. Rhys complied with his actions and opened his legs, which made Jack smirk into the kiss. Pushing up one of his legs, Jack moved Rhys slightly down, his groin rubbing slightly against Rhys’ own. A soft mewl came from the younger man when Jack repeated that action. Rhys made a hand grab onto Jack’s shoulder.

“Clothes off- please,” Rhys swallowed and leaned back up to kiss Jack again, Jack then kissed back hungrily and started to unbutton Rhys’ shirt. Rhys started to work at Jack’s shirt himself, then when he got about half way done, he pushed Jack back, causing him to fall into the bed. Quickly Rhys straddled him with a smirk. Jack’s hands crept up to reach for Rhys’ shirt and unbuttoned it until he could take it off of Rhys with haste. He threw it somewhere in the room while leaning up to meet his lips with Rhys’ again. Jack’s hand gripped onto Rhys’ lower back and slowly down to his ass, squeezing it and earning a soft yelp then a laugh from Rhys. “You’re handsy aren’t you?” Rhys said with a coy smile and pushed Jack back to the bed giving him a slow grind. If Rhys was honest with himself, that alcohol was working wonders for his courage right now. In fact, the same alcohol that Jack was now staring at. Jack snapped his attention back to Rhys and moved his hand to his lower back again.

“Yeah, I guess I kind of am. Rhys I-” Jack let out a soft groan when Rhys ground on him again. “I need to get home.” He whispered. Rhys let out a soft laugh with an eyebrow raised.

“Why? We have a bed here, no kids…” Rhys trailed a finger on Jack’s chin. Jack sucked in a breath and leant up, giving Rhys a gentle kiss which was not returned as gentle. Jack pulled back and rested a hand on the back of Rhys’ neck. Even from the light out in the front yard, the room was lit up faintly with flashes of red and blue. Jack pulled Rhys off of him and got off the bed.

“This… Doesn’t feel right.” Jack turned to Rhys, “I know I’m a hot piece of ass, but obviously you aren’t thinking straight. I don’t want it to start like this. You understand right?” Rhys crawled to the edge of his bed.

“I-I’m not even that drunk,” he said with a whimper.

“You drank like a four loko then- then that thing.” Jack pointed to the big glass, “If you can remember this when you wake up tomorrow when you’re sober, I’ll do it.” Rhys got off of his bed and stood in front of Jack.

“What if I don’t?”

“Then I made the right choice of not letting this go too far.” Jack rubbed the middle of Rhys’ back when he pulled him in for a hug and kissed Rhys softly, then let go and left the room. Rhys stood there for a second puzzled, he wasn’t even sure what had just _happened_. He just knew one thing right now; he had to go chase after Jack. Sure it’s not like that would work, the mood was already diminished but he had to say something to him. Right?

He made his way through the crowd, spotting Jack walking out the front door and the man froze in his tracks. Rhys tried to push his way past the people who started to rush to the back and some of them yelled over the music to their friends. He couldn’t even make out what was going on as he stumbled out of the front door.

“Are you the owner of this house?” A gruff voice asked. Rhys didn’t care as he tried to look past the man, looking for Jack who was walking to his own house, when he looked back their gaze met for a second before the man pushed Rhys up by the shoulder. “Excuse me, sir, I asked you a question.” Rhys looked up at the man with a puzzled gaze then down to his chest where a shiny badge was placed right on his chest. He suddenly looked back up to the man with a realization and fear, Rhys quickly straightened his spine.

“W-What was that officer?” he asked trying to keep himself upright.

“Do you own this house?” the officer repeated, slightly agitated.

“Yeah, this is my house,” Rhys motioned back to the house, the lights danced on the windows and through the door, the loud music continued to play.

“We got a noise complaint from your neighbors,” the officer muttered, he looked to the house as it started to look empty. Rhys stood there for a second in slight shock.

“I’m gonna turn it down then and you can go back to your job.” Rhys tried to smile.

“This is my job, sir.”

“ _Riiiiight._ ” Rhys gave a soft laugh and made his way back to his house, seeing how it was littered but definitely deserted.

* * *

Rhys did  _not_ want to get up today. No way. Never in a million years did he want to get up, but it seemed like Vaughn wasn’t having that. Rhys didn’t blame him; he was probably really pissed about the party that happened last night. Vaughn wasn’t there because he was at his mother’s for her birthday. Vaughn swiftly pulled back the blinds and shot a glare at Rhys.

“Get up Rhys,” he said when Rhys had groaned and put a pillow over his head, “You need to give me answers, why the hell is there  _crap_ all over the house? Did you seriously have a party while I was gone? Did the police get called? I know how you are.” When Rhys didn’t answer Vaughn pulled back the covers, making Rhys go into a fetal position to keep himself warm, “Rhys I’m asking you a question.”

“Go away  _mom_ ,” Rhys grumbled and tried to search for the blanket before sitting up slightly and looking to where Vaughn had tossed it on the ground, “It was just a small party. Just some friends.”

“Uh-huh, just some friends huh? This doesn’t look like a simple visit from Fiona and Sasha,  _Rhys_.”

“Hey I have other friends,” Rhys mumbled and laid back down, “Like I have Athena and Zero.”

“Who else did you invite? You should just tell me the truth now because I can always find out.”

“Fine but if I tell you I get to go to keep sleeping.”

“ _Ohh no you don't_.” Vaughn crossed his arms with a glare, “You need to go to work, we hardly got last rent paid and it's due in two weeks. We need that money especially since you wanted to throw a party.” Rhys grumbled and put his face on the pillow.

“You're so hung up over that.” Rhys’ voice was muffled from the pillow but Vaughn clearly heard him.

“Yeah, maybe it's because we promised no parties when the other wasn't there.” Rhys looked up to Vaughn.

“We promised that?”

“Uh yeah, bro we did,” Vaughn checked his watch, “I have to go and you better get up and go to work yourself.” Rhys groaned and put his head back into the pillow as Vaughn walked out of the room. He did  _not_ want to get up. Vaughn was right though. He did have to go to work. Even though work was going to make his headache worse. Getting up and getting dressed as slowly as he could, he had finally made his way to the kitchen, a cup of coffee sat on the table.

“Thanks, bro!” he called to Vaughn who was walking out the door.

A simple “Yeah.” was called back to him before the door shut. After he had finished with his coffee, he walked out the door looking across the street where he saw a deserted cardboard stand. A pitcher of lemonade sat on it with a stack of plastic cups beside it, another smaller box was nearby. It looked like a lunchbox that was a light baby blue. When he was about to ignore it, he saw a small girl with black hair pop up behind it. That was Jack's daughter right? What is she doing out here all by herself? Was Jack around? Rhys quickly checked the driveway to see that no Jack was not there and Angel must be by herself. Unless Jacks car finally took a crap on him and he had it towed off. Deciding to either go to work or keep an eye on Jack's daughter he chose the latter. He walked over and tried to smile gently, suspecting she would be shy.

“Hi! Would you like some lemonade?” she chirped up, smiling at Rhys wide.

“Well, I don't know I just-” Rhys kept an eye on the girl as her expression changed from happy to a pout. “Y-You know sure, why not? How much?”

“Twenty bucks!” the girl crossed her arms slightly.

“Wow that's uh... some expensive lemonade. You must want something that costs a lot.”

“I want a dog,” she explained simply, “Daddy says I can't have one unless I can buy it myself.” Rhys whistled and looked at Jack's house. You would expect that someone who loves his daughter that much too just baby her. Half of Jack's house looked like his daughter was the one who owned it anyway. Maybe Jack just didn't want a dog yet.

“Well I don't think I have twenty bucks. But I can give you a five and my loyal service at your lemonade stand how about that?” the girl pondered it for a second.

“Nah.”

“What?” Rhys’ eyes were wide he then frowned a bit, “Ok what if I convince your dad to get you a dog and give you money,  _and_  my loyal service etc. Huh?” the girl grinned and stuck out her hand.

“Ok! My name is Angel!” so that  _was_  his daughter's name?  Rhys always thought it was a pet name or something. He crouched down and held out his hand to shake hers.

“My name's Rhys.”

“I know that,” she said with a huff after shaking his hand, “Dad talks about you a lot. He says you're pretty.” Rhys’ face went a bit pink and he smiled and rubbed his hair back.

“He does?” Angel nodded and poured a cup of lemonade with a few grunts. Rhys put a crumpled up five in the small lunchbox that he could now see clearly was painted a nice baby blue with small pink ponies decorating the box. Taking the plastic cup, he took a small sip and cringed. “Wow that's uhm... this is really sour. Did you make this by yourself?” Angel again nodded but looked at the ground in the process.

“I don't really know how to make lemonade...” she whispered and kicked her foot a little. Rhys sighed and put down the cup.

“Your dad didn't help you?”

“He doesn't know; he thinks I'm with Katie.”

“Who?” Rhys was starting to get cramps in his legs from crouching but he didn't want to tower over the poor girl.

“My teacher,” she looked up to Rhys who was still taller than her while crouching at her height. Of course, Jack probably thought Angel was at school. Rhys bit his lip and looked at Jack's house again.

“You skipped school to get a dog? I'd say that's commitment.” Rhys saw Angel’s face light up for a second, “But it's terribly wrong Angel, don't you think you should be at school right now? What happens when they find out you aren't there and call your dad?” Angel’s eyes went wide and she had put her hands in front of her folded as to start pleading.

“Don't tell my dad please?”

“Angel…” Rhys started with furrowed eyebrows, “Your dad will be worried sick if he finds out you aren't at school.” Angel started to pout with her bottom lip out. Rhys’ expression changed and he sat down next to her to save his knees from hurting anymore.

“Fine I won't tell your dad, but he's probably going to find out by himself.” he sighed and rubbed his temple, “If you want people to buy lemonade you have to make it right first.”

“You'll help me?” Angel smiled, and Rhys returned it.

“Yeah, I'll help you make lemonade, you little criminal.” Rhys laughed softly when Angel giggled.

“Thank you, Rhys!” Angel gave him a slight hug and ran up to her steps, “Come on I'll show you the kitchen!” Rhys got up with a grunt and took the pitcher of distasteful lemonade and followed Angel into Jack’s house and into the kitchen, gasping from the mess he was met with. The sink was still slightly running water and lemons were on the ground and counter.

“Wow, you sure your dad wouldn't get mad over this?”

“You should see his room!” Angel got up on a chair and fumbled around for what seemed to be the last four lemons.

“You sure? Last time I was here it was really clean.”

“He has papers everywhere some of them are blue and have pictures on them. He doesn't let me touch those. He says they're important.” she grabbed the last lemons and jumped off if the chair and handed them to Rhys, who put down the pitcher on the counter before taking them. It made sense to Rhys at least, Jack was a programmer. He had mentioned before that he made models too. Shaking his head, he focused back on Angel.

“Hey, how did you skip school anyway?” Angel raised an eyebrow at Rhys while handing him a sugar cube.

“I pretended to walk to the bus and waited until daddy left and walked back to the house.”

“He didn't lock the door?”

“He doesn't lock the back door.” Rhys snorted and went back to making lemonade.

“Seems kind of bad don't you think?” he said to Angel and she nodded. “Also we’ll need a little more sugar than that. Is that all you put in last time?” again Angel nodded, Rhys sighed and poured out the lemonade she had made, “Alright Angel.” He turned to her with a smirk, “Ready to help me make some lemonade?” she nodded eagerly and jumped up and down slightly. With a small laugh, Rhys poured some water in the pitcher and got to work with Angel. She helped out by giving him the things needed such as the lemons, the sugar, and after an hour of searching, a juicer. After a couple minutes of trying to get everything right, he let Angel stir it then get a small cup of it. Angel’s eyes grew bright when she took a testing sip.

“This is tasty!” she squeaked and quickly gulped down the rest, “How did you do that? Mine was gross!” Rhys let a soft laugh leave his lips as he leaned down a bit and patted her head.

“Well, let’s just say I put a little bit more sugar than you did,” He took the pitcher and turned towards the entrance, “Alright, you ready to go sell some lemonade?”

“Yup!” She raced him to the door and flung it open, running over to where her box was. Rhys, who was making sure the pitcher didn’t spill, walked slowly after her and made sure to close the door behind them. Setting it down on the box, he took a seat beside Angel. “So how are you gonna make my dad get me a dog?” Rhys looked over for a second then down to the grassy ground.

“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll think of something.” After about what felt like an hour, Angel was starting to play around in the grass and Rhys was watching her. No one had come to the lemonade stand. It was expected from this neighborhood since most of the people were either at work, or in some of the rare cases, the country club. Angel scooped up something and clasped her hands together then looked to Rhys with a smile.

“I caught a ladybug!” Rhys sat up and looked over.

“Really?”

“Yeah! Want to see!” Angel was already on her way and didn’t wait for an answer, she pushed out her hands near Rhys’ face and opened them slightly, “See?” the ladybug in her hand flew out and right into Rhys’ face, making him fall back with a sputter. “Rhys! Are you ok?” Angel held a hand over her mouth when Rhys sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

“I think I might’ve scared the poor bug,” he laughed and nodded back to where he was sure the ladybug had flown off.  “It scared me too,” he cleared his throat when Angel sat back down defeated. “You ok?”

“No one wants the lemonade, and it was really good this time!” She crossed her arms and huffed. Rhys raised an eyebrow and looked across the neighborhood.

“Maybe no one’s here. That’s why no one’s buying any.” He looked back to Angel with a gentle smile, “I’m sure if people were here there would be a really big line.” Angel gave him a smile and took the pitcher.

“How about we drink this ourselves then?” Rhys thought on it for a second then nodded.

“Yeah Angel, that sounds like a good idea,” He stood up and stretched a little before letting Angel lead him up to her house and then into the kitchen.

“We should use the big glasses,” she chirped and reached up the cupboard with a couple grunts until Rhys walked over and handed two tall glasses to her.  Angel held the glasses still while Rhys poured the lemonade. After that, Rhys and Angel sat in the living room and watched some cartoons, which Angel had picked. Rhys didn't notice when Angel had fallen asleep on him, or more he didn't care. He had been watching the cartoon Angel wanted to watch for god knows how many hours before he heard the click of the door and a familiar voice.

“Angel! Daddy’s home! What do you want for di-” Jack had stopped dead in his tracks and was looking to Rhys with a shocked and scared expression, that Rhys himself was returning. “Rhys, what are you doing here?” Jack’s voice was slightly shaky as he stepped forward.

“Sorry! I uh-” Rhys looked down to Angel and held his breath as she sat up, looking first to Rhys then to Jack.

“Daddy!” She jumped off Rhys and ran over to Jack, hugging his legs. Jack grabbed her up in his arms and held her close, staring at Rhys.

“Answer my question Rhys.”

“I um-” Rhys looked to the ground as he got up slowly, he didn’t want to tell Jack about what Angel did but there was really no other way unless he could come up with an excuse then-

“Rhys was helping me with my lemonade stand!” Angel said with a cheery voice, making Jack look to her with slightly widened eyes.

“Lemonade stand?”

“You said I had to earn my own money for a doggy so… so…” Angel looked down and clearly clung to Jack’s jacket, “I stayed home and made a lemonade stand…” Jack frowned and put her down.

Jack started to speak, his tone strict, “Angel, you know I don’t like you staying home by yourself-”

“But I wasn’t! Rhys was with me the whole day!” Jack blinked then looked to Rhys who was fumbling with his hands.

“She was sitting out there by herself and I knew how protective you were of her so…” Rhys twiddled his thumbs and bit his lip, “I didn’t want to leave her by herself.” Jack walked over and put a firm hand on Rhys’ shoulder.

“Thank you, but next time just call me.” Jack looked back to Angel, “I hope there isn’t a 'next time', right Angel?”

“Yes sir...” Angel put her hands behind her back and looked at the ground.

“Good… Rhys, you should be going,” Jack had looked at Rhys out of his peripheral vision, and Rhys started to walk away when Angel spoke up again.

“Wait! Can Rhys stay for dinner? Please?” Angel was looking up to her dad with her hands folded and she was slightly pouting. Jack kept his gaze on her for a second before sighing and turning to Rhys.

“Do you want to stay for dinner…” he asked and rubbed his temple. Rhys looked to Angel who was now pouting at him.

“Well I-” Rhys looked to Jack then who just nodded and turned to walk into the kitchen, “I guess so,”

“Then if you’re staying you’re helping me cook.”

“O-Of course!” Rhys followed Jack into the kitchen where Jack was looking through the freezer, “What are you going to cook?”

“I have no idea yet. I really need to go shopping.” Jack sighed and beckoned Rhys to him and Rhys walked over right next to Jack, “Let me thank you again, Rhys. Who knows what would have happened if you weren’t there.” Jack finally shut the freezer door and was now looking at Rhys. “Just thinking about it makes me uneasy, so thanks.”

“You’re welcome Jack,” Rhys mumbled with a smile. The rest of the day was uneventful, Rhys struggled to help Jack cook fettucine, and somehow Rhys had actually convinced Jack to get a dog for Angel, which made her more than happy. After dinner, Rhys went home.

Then he was met with a bit of a frustrated Vaughn, but Rhys was too happy to let Vaughn’s sour mood get him down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a happy ending to a rather frustrating fic!! Don't you think?  
> You can contact me on tumblr @jaych1r1


	5. A walk in the park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack [for probably the third or fourth time] asks Rhys out on a date- although not as sutble this time. Also: we all know that Jack messes up a lot, like... really he does, also!! A little reminder, this is Jack before he got the scar, so presequeal Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's currently 5 in the morning and i had only 4 hours of sleep,,, but i had to get this done soooo hope you enjoy !! I want to thank you all for the kudos and comments- you guys are wonderful. Of course you can hmu on tumblr @jaych1r1

 

Rhys walked into his office, setting down his messenger bag when he noticed his computer was already on. With a quick, “what the-” he sat down and looked through it, only seeing a new email in his inbox, otherwise everything was still there and nothing looked out of place. He clicked the email just as soon as his door burst open.

“Rhys!”

The scream that ripped from Rhys was...well to put it lightly, embarrassing. “Je-Jesus, fucking... D-Don’t do that,” Rhys huffed out, looking to the invader of his office space, his eyes trailed from the smirk on Jack’s face to the bag of food in his hand. “What’s-”

“Breakfast! Unless you already had...” Jack looked at the bag in his one hand and the coffee in his other, “Fuck I..” Jack laughed and shook his head, “I started this wrong, fucking christ I don’t even know if I have the whole thing right... T-Tell you what, this is what I’m gonna do ok?” Jack cleared his throat and stepped back through the open door, “I’m going to come back in- D...Don’t scream just wait there I’m going to try to do this right, fuck,” Jack was laughing as he walked out the door, closing it before opening it normally again.

“Jack, please wh...what is this about I’m-”

“Rhys, I got you breakfast, so I hope you’re hungry,” Jack winked as he walked over and placed the food on Rhys’ desk.

“What is it?”

“Hey, you don’t have to eat it- b-but uh..” Jack sat down in one of the chairs in front of Rhys’ desk, “I wanted to ask if... you wanted to...” Jack took a deep breath and looked into Rhys’ eyes with his eyebrows raised.

“If I wanted to what?”

“Go....” Jack folded his hands shifting his gaze to his hands, “On... a da- W-Well not a date, no it’s more of a...a uh...”

“A date?” Rhys felt his face go red as he watched Jack sputter in his spot gripping to the side of the chair for dear life.

“No! No- not... I-I just wanted to thank you for...” Jack looked around for the right word before sighing, “Fucking shit, I wanted to thank you for looking after Angel.”

“I’d love to go on a date with you!” Rhys said, a small squeak of excitement.

“Not a date- a-a friendly outing,”

“I was too eager wasn’t I?” Rhys murmured, squinting at Jack as he sat back.

“Hell I’d be eager too if I was asked on a date by someone as handsome as me,”

“See you admitted it, it’s a date,” Jack stood immediately and took out his phone.

“Not a date,”

“Where are you go-”  
“Tassiter, that guy is always up my ass, after you get off work- I’ll buy you dinner.”

“You just defined a date,” Jack looked back at Rhys and furrowed his eyebrows while letting out a sigh.

“If I say it’s a date will you stop?”

“I don’t know, will I?” Rhys grinned at Jack, getting an eye roll in return.

“It’s a date then,”  
“Ok,” Rhys watched as Jack left the room answering his phone with a sigh. As soon as the door closed Rhys waited for a few seconds before pumping his fist in the air with an excited “Yes!” He swiveled in his chair after, biting his lip to stop the giddy noises coming from him. He stopped as soon as his eyes caught who sent the e-mail, his expression dropping and with a low sigh, he scooted his chair closer to the computer.

“Rhys, I hope you did not come to work yesterday for a good reason -Henderson”

Rhys blinked a few times then cursed rubbing his face as he read the next line.

“P.S. You will have to do a bit more work than usual today.”

With a defeated sigh Rhys mumbled something to himself along the lines of, “should have stayed home today too,” and near the end of the day he was feeling that more and more. He couldn’t even get most of the stuff he had to do in time. Looking to the clock with glossed over eyes he rubbed his temple, the worst part is that he would probably have to cancel on Jack. He looked up when he heard the turn of his door. He saw the face of Jack peek into the door with a quick whistle to get Rhys’ attention, even though he already _had_ it.

“Yes?” Rhys said raising an eyebrow.

“You should be off of work,”  
“Did you literally wait outside my door until it was time for me to get off work,”

“Listen, Rhys, Rhysie, _baby_ ,” Jack said while walking in and shutting the door behind him, “As the supervisor of Helios, I have to tell you when to get the hell out of the building and into my car so I can take you to dinner,”

“Really now?” Rhys leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed.

“Yes,” Jack walked to Rhys’ desk and sat down on it, shuffling a few papers out of the way. Rhys widened his eyes and tried to catch the ones that tried to fall off the side.

“Jack! I had those organized!”

“Organize it tomorrow, c’mon Rhysie, let’s ditch this pit,” Jack whispered, grabbing Rhys’ hand away from the papers, “This is like...a _once_ in a lifetime chance here Rhys,”

“Yeah, once in a lifetime chance to get fired,” Rhys said, glaring up at Jack getting only a laugh in return.

“What do you mean? Aren’t you off by this time?” Rhys looked back to the clock, ok, _yeah_ , he was. Although because he had watched Angel yesterday, and didn’t say anything to Henderson, he had to stay late today. “Rhys?” Jack asked, his brow quirking up as Rhys started to worry his lip. “ _Rhys_ ,” Jack hissed suddenly after not getting much of a reaction the first time.

“I can’t- I...I can’t go, Jack,” Rhys blurted and held his head, “I didn’t tell Henderson that I wouldn’t be here yesterday so he expects me to stay late,” Rhys looked up to Jack who squinted at him.

“Again you fail to inform me of _important_ details,”

“Look it’s not my fault, I didn’t know until you left,” Jack got off of Rhys’ desk with a sigh and glared at the ground.

“Did you magically forget my number? ‘Cause I have a phone you know,” Rhys rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the sting of Jack’s words.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were really busy,” Jack took a deep breath and started walking towards the door.

“Forget it, Rhys,” Jack murmured before walking out the door. Rhys stared on, not know what he should do. He could either run after Jack like a bad romance comedy or... well, do what he is here to do. With a low, drawn out sigh Rhys turned back to his computer to finish his work. It had been around twenty minutes after Jack left when he could lean back and stretch his body out.

After all, he did just complete _another_ paper. With a yawn, he leaned back in his chair to look over his office. It was... really empty. Almost painfully empty actually. He fixed himself up to do another paper when he heard the click of his door again. Now, who the hell could be here at this hour? He looked up to his door, not even getting a chance to say anything as a bag of food was thrust into his face.

“I don’t care what your boss says- you are _not_ going hungry and you are _NOT_ standing me up,” Jack put down the food on Rhys’ desk, then leaned his body back to watch how Rhys looked over the food with worry first before up to Jack. This caused Jack to quirk an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

“I-I...Thank you?”

“Damn right, ‘Thank you’ fucking eat before I change my mind and go home,”

“That sounds really inviting, you kno-”

“I will leave,”

“Right...” Rhys looked over the food again before shrugging and taking the noodle box and a fork, “So what is it?”

“A surprise,” Jack said, his tone a little more cheerful now as he sat down across from Rhys and leaned on his fist.

“A...surprise, right how...how is that suppose to make me want to dig in,”

“I will feed you like a baby if I have to Rhys,” Jack let a chuckle escape his lips at the thought as he reached out like he was going to take the fork from Rhys, which Rhys had retracted his own hand from.

“I can feed myself,” Rhys mumbled, his face slightly heating up as he took a bite of the noodles. He sat there for a little, stunned, “Woah... That’s really good,” quickly he took another bite and Jack leaned back with a smile.

“Glad you like it, kid,” Jack had looked at his hands for a second, “Rhys...uhm... I need to ask you something,” Rhys looked up to Jack, a few noodles sticking out of his mouth which earned a rather small chuckle from the older man.

“Hmm?” Rhys hummed, slurping up the dangling noodles.

“I...” Jack cleared his throat with a nervous chuckle, “I would like for you to go on a date with me on sometime?”

“I already made this very clear,” Rhys said, putting his fork down to reach out his hand to Jack.

“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,” Jack whispered, it catching Rhys’ ears but before he could retort Jack grabbed his hand and leaned upwards as he pulled Rhys slightly over the desk to press their lips together. A startled noise had left Rhys as soon as the contact was made, his eyes were wide full of shock. It really didn’t last for long as he closed his eyes to lean into the kiss, getting lost in how Jack moved his lips against his own. Soon after, Jack had pulled back slowly a grin forming on his lips.

“I don’t usually kiss on the first date,” Jack said with a chuckle as he sat back down letting Rhys regain himself.

“You call this a date?” he whispered, almost breathless which just made Jack laugh even more.

“Nah, not really, but it has been a hell of a good time,”

“Are you just saying that because you kissed me?”

“Yep,” Jack looked at how Rhys’ face with bright red and how he shuffled before sitting back down and looking at the food Jack had brought him.

* * *

Rhys shuffled in his bed, giving his body a good stretch before opening his eyes slowly. He could already tell today was going to be a good day, the sun was shining ever so softly through the window, birds singing their lovely songs. Rhys gave his body one more stretch before walking over to his window, pulling the blinds back. Outside looked truly amazing, which made Rhys think to go on a small walk. Also because he saw Jack with his dog, so there was that too. It had mostly seemed like everything had cleared up since Rhys watched Angel. Of course, he did get to see the dog when they got him. He was a Doberman that Jack had at first tried to let Angel name, although she went for something along the lines of “Lollipop” if Rhys remembered correctly. So, Jack took it upon himself to name him Warrior, although if you call Lollipop he still comes running, actually he responds to Lollipop better than he did “Warrior” which was comical in itself.

Getting out of his pajamas, which mostly consisted of boxers and a tank top, he changed into some track shorts he had “borrowed” from Fiona some time ago. It was really a miracle that he could fit into some of her clothes. Like, it _really_ was. He changed his shirt into a more fitting tank top and, just for a little flair, put on some high-top leather converse. Ok, so he wasn't the best at fashion, _sue him_ . He did know what made Jack melt though and that's all that mattered. He checked himself in the mirror before thinking that, well, he should probably start running if he wanted to catch up to Jack now. He rushed into the kitchen and took one of Vaughn’s water bottles, he was sure he wouldn't mind and filled it up with cold water before racing out of the house and to where he saw Jack turn the corner. He didn't want to be too obvious of course, I mean Jack would _know_ why he raced after him so he stayed back until he was able to cross the street and pretend like he was running on that side. He...really never ran, so after a few sprints to get way in front of Jack he went back to the other side because well, his master plan. Duh.

He would pretend like he was running back home because he was already sweaty and he kinda wanted to spend a few moments of this day with Vaughn, but you know, thirst first... Yeah, he should probably stop living by that rule. He saw Jack approaching, whistling and checking his phone, of course, Warrior had other plans as he rushed his head forward as to smell Rhys and Jack was tugged along with.

Rhys let out a cackle as he stopped in his tracks, breathing pretty heavily. _Yeah, he should reeeallly work out more_. “Why hello Handsome,” Rhys giggled and made Jack look up to him.

“Why Rhys I didn't know yo-”

“I was... talking to the dog.” Jack's eyes widened and his shoulders went up in a slightly startled motion...and was that blush Rhys saw on his face?

“Yeah...of course,” Jack pulled back the leash a little, “Sorry he's kinda... well he really likes people,” Jack whistled to Warrior which made his look at him with his tongue out and ears perked up. “Sit boy,” on command Warrior sat down and looked to Rhys.

“he's really well trained,” Rhys muttered to Jack and started to pet Warrior, scratching behind his ear and making Warrior try to also itch his ear.

“Yeah, Angel helps me when she's not doing homework, you know I should thank you for convincing me to get a dog,” Rhys looked up to Jack with a smile.

“Of course, I really just did it for Angel.”

“That's another reason why I should thank you,” Jack smiled at Warrior before suddenly perking up and grabbing something out of his pocket, “Wanna give him a treat?”

“Can I?!” Rhys stood excited and held out his hand which Jack placed a small dog treat in.

“All yours tiger, see if you can get him to do something for ya,”

“Ok! Uh... Warrior... Down?” Rhys watched as Warrior laid down and looked up at Rhys. Rhys looked at Jack as if for approval.

“Oh come on cupcake, I taught him more than that.” Rhys looked back to Warrior and held out his hand in a finger gun formation.

“Bang!” Rhys said with a smile while drawing back his hand as if he shot a bullet and Warrior laid on his side and looked up to Rhys panting, “Woah!” Rhys crouched down and held out the threat to the dog, giggling, “Good boy!”

“Pretty cool huh?” Jack said with a grin as he watched Rhys pet Warrior again, and his eyes trailed to his ass. Again. For the- ok he wasn't counting, probably would be an embarrassing number of times, though, “Wanna walk with me?” Rhys looked up to Jack with a slight blush.

“Y-Yeah, yeah of course,”

“Hey, speaking of walking where did you get shorts like that?” Jack whispered to Rhys when he had stood.

“Well,” Rhys rubbed the back of his head, “Fiona let me borrow them some time ago,”

“You never gave them back did you?”

“Listen, they are _really_ comfortable to wear while running,”

“That I bet they are, you should wear them more often,” Rhys looked at Jack with wide eyes before breaking down into a fit of nervous giggles.

“Really? You really think so?”

“Hell yeah, they show off your legs and who wouldn't want to look at those?” Jack, while finding some confidence, reached out and smacked Rhys on the ass with a dark smirk. Rhys, though, jumped and looked at Jack a bit offended and covering his ass from further slaps.

But... If he was honest... That was mission accomplished.

* * *

The day was long, boring, and all day Rhys had been running around for Henderson like right now he had just sat down at his desk when he got another message on his phone. Thinking Henderson probably thought he was still out of the office he opened it was a long drawn-out sigh.

> _Hey bby, work treatin u well?_

It was Jack. Rhys could feel his face heat up as he texted Jack back.

> Kinda boss has me runnin around A LOT today

Rhys clutched onto his phone, yet it never really occurred to him _why_ Jack I contacted him. During work hours no less, unless Jack’s car broke down again. For probably the fifth time that day, Rhys felt drained of all energy.

> _That sux u wouldn’t mind doing me a personal favor??_

Rhys wasn't sure if he felt more drained from being right or to respond with the cheap porno response. He wasn't sure he could pull off the latter but it sounded more appealing than draining himself of energy.

> Oh? ;)

The response was almost immediate.

> _Calm down I didn’t mean that kind of personal favor_

> _I need you to watch Angel_

Rhys had looked over the text at least five times- maybe more, not like he was really counting.

> What?

> _Don’t “what” me you can read can’t u?_

Rhys rolled his eyes letting out a sigh he typed out his response.

> I meant why

> _Then type why cupcake_

Rhys whispered “asshole” Under his breath as he waited for Jack to say something else.

> _nnnyywaayy I need u 2 watch her bc i’m not going 2b home until like 11 or 12 idk we’ll see_

> oooookkaay?? Why me?

> _I trust u_

Rhys felt a smile creep onto his face as he looked at the text over twice.

> _dummy_

Then his smile faded, But even though It did he could still feel his face heating up as he read it over again but for the sixth time, and he had to stop himself from squealing like some pathetic schoolgirl while typing the reply.

> aww thnx and sure... I’ll watch Angel

> _That’s my boi keep her safe ok? nythn bad happens 2 her n i’ll cut ur dick off <3 I have 2 stop txtn now, Tassiter is up my ass again lmao _

Rhys put down his phone with another sigh, but this one had more sweetness to it as he leaned back in his chair.

“Rhys!” Henderson yelled from the other room, it's like the guy knew when he was relaxing. He grumbled as he got up and prepared for whatever errand he had to do this time.

 

Angel sat on Rhys’ couch kicking her legs back and forth as she sung what was probably “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

“So he just straight up asked you to watch his kid until twelve?” Vaughn asked Rhys, they were both in the kitchen trying to make an ok dinner for Angel with their minimal food supply. Yeah, Rhys regrets not doing some after party shopping.

“More or less, you don't mind do you?” Vaughn sighed and rub his temple.

“No, I don't mind, just haven’t babysat in a loooooong time,”

“Don't worry I'll do all the work, well most of it I have almost no experience with kids,”

“Rhysie?” Angel called from the living room making Rhys peek his head out.

“Yes, Angel?” He looked into the living room, seeing her crouched by his gaming consoles.

“Can I play a game?” Rhys thought on it for a moment before shrugging.

“I don't see why not, maybe Vaughn can help you,” Vaughn let out a scoff and walked into the living room to show Angel the games that she could play as Rhys slipped back into the kitchen. He still had no idea what to cook. Although, after making some, if he had to say, damn delicious grilled cheese, he had went to join Angel and Vaughn who had gotten out the Nintendo 64 and were taking turns playing Banjo Kazooie. He was sure Angel had picked out when she saw the bird in the backpack because she kept saying how she loved her and laughed whenever she would make her run around instead of Banjo. Vaughn seemed pretty entertained too as he was watching Angel playing giving her pointers.

After some more of the game, Angel had started getting sleepy and Rhys couldn't blame her it was a bit past ten after all.

“Alright, kids,” Rhys laughed at what he said when he saw Vaughn glare at him. “Time to get to bed,”

“Where am I sleeping?” Angel asked with a yawn and rubbed her eyes.

“You can sleep out here don't worry I'll stay here too,”

“What about Uncle Vaughn?” Angel inquired cocking her head to the side, this drew a small laugh from Rhys as he looked to Vaughn who seemed to be giving Angel a small smile.

“I have my own room- and work tomorrow but I'm _sure_ we'll hang out again- soon.” Angel had seemed content with this answer as she curled up to Rhys and closed her eyes. Vaughn got up quietly, as if not to wake her, and walked out of the room and into his bedroom.

This is how Jack found them when Vaughn had opened the door for him, and when Jack had walked in Vaughn had grumbled and gone back to bed. Rhys was leaning back on the couch as Powerpuff Girls droned on in the background. Angel was lying on Rhys’ chest fast asleep. Jack almost didn't want to disturb it. He also wanted to take a picture but... “Fuck it,” He thought as he pulled out his phone and took a quick picture. Yeah, that was lock screen material. Jack smiled and put his phone away then shook Rhys’ shoulder.

“Hey Rhysie- cupcake,” he whispered trying to wake Rhys up in the most polite way possible. It didn't work and Jack really hated waking- Well, he hated waking someone that was sleeping as cute as Rhys was. “Rhysie,” Jack said a little bit louder.

“Jack?” Rhys mumbled but obviously was still sleeping.

“Wake up Rhys,” Jack gripped on Rhys' shoulder which made him jolt awake, “There’s my favorite man,” Jack said with a smile and got out of Rhys’ face who stayed still, keeping his eyes on Angel to make sure she was still asleep.

“What time is it?” Rhys asked quietly. Jack tried to think on that, he did get off of work about- he checked his watch.

“It’s around one,”

“One? You are at work for that long?”

“Yeah, it sucks. Tassiter gave me a butt-ton of work to do today,”

“Seems like he always is,” Rhys muttered trying his best to pick Angel up without waking her.

“What can I say? The dude hates me,”

“Obviously,” Rhys held Angel in his arms and gave Jack a smile.

“How was she?” Jack asked softly fixing a small out of place hair on Angel’s face.

“She was an angel,” Jack snorted as he heard Rhys chuckle and he looked up into Rhys’ eyes a slight glint in them.

“She lives up to her name then,” Rhys nodded as he gently handed over Angel to her dad. “Man, She's knocked out, an eventful day?”

“You could say that,” Rhys rubbed his hair back, “I would hate for her to wake up right now.”

“It'll be fine,” Jack mumbled.

“I-I Guess I should word that better-” Jack gave Rhys questioning glance.

“Word what better?” Jack had watched him as Rhys spoke almost all his courage drained as he tried to gulp down his fear.

“Would you like to stay the night?” Rhys looked to the ground and twiddled his fingers, “Y-You and Angel that is,” Jack looked stunned making Rhys feel nervous as he looked at his face and saw Jack’s expression.

“Where would we-” Jack paused seeing Rhys look to the ground and bite his lip, he decided on ‘fuck it’ For the second time that night, “Sure. Y-Yeah Rhys, That sounds nice,” Rhys looked back up at Jack ecstatic and squeaked out, He covered his mouth quickly to try to hide the embarrassing sound that had came out of it. Then Rhys had turned all shades of red, making Jack laugh softly. “So where will me and Angel sleep?”

“In my bed, if you want,” Rhys said nervously. Jack stared at Rhys silent and unmoving.

“Eh, Sounds good.” Just started walking towards Rhys’ room when he stopped and looked back, “Are you coming or what?” Rhys jolted startled and caught up to Jack, blushing.

 

That's how he woke up with a dead arm, a small toddler wedged up against him, and the face of sleeping Rhys in front of him. He didn't even bother to wake either of them up as he got up and walked into the kitchen, searching through the bare cabinets. Vaughn walked in and froze in fear, his scream caught in his throat. Jack had glanced over but quickly took a double take. “Oh hey, kiddo!” Jack said pretty loudly making the younger and smaller man flinch.

“Why are you here?” Vaughn asked, rubbing one of his ears in a sort of exaggeration.

“Rhysie let me spend the night!”

“And Angel?”

“Is still sleeping, just like Rhys. You know, he looks pretty adorable when he sleeps,” Jack took out the jug of milk, that was almost gone.

“I don’t watch him sleep so I wouldn’t know,” Vaughn shuffled through the kitchen awkwardly trying to avoid Jack as he grabbed a banana, “I have work and so does Rhys, so get him up,”

“Alright, _mother_ ,” Jack let out a laughing bark and looked for some cereal, seeing Vaughn roll his eyes and walk out of the kitchen. When Jack had found the cereal, Vaughn had already left the house and Jack felt rather disappointed in what cereals they had, so he put the milk back. He finally decided that his house was much more fit for a food hunt. He walked back into Rhys' bedroom smiling at how Angel was cuddling Rhys, it kind of reminded him of his- he shook his head to stop the thoughts and shook Rhys a little to wake him. “Hey, cupcake- wakey, wakey,” Rhys stirred slightly and blinked the sleep out of his eyes.

“Jack?”

“The one and only baby, how’d you sleep?” Rhys looked to Angel’s small figure.

“Alright,” He whispered.

“She really likes you by the way,” Jack commented, seeing Angel also slowly wake up, “Hey pumpkin,” He whispered. Angel had looked to Jack than to Rhys.

“Hey Dad,” She said with a little enthusiasm, probably more than she should have been.

“Hey, pu-” Jack was cut off my Angel almost immediately.

“Not you!”  She whispered loudly, “Rhysie,” Rhys' eyes widened.

“W-What?”  Rhys and Jack's mouth were both agape.

“Angel- h-he's not...”

“Yeah, he is! Huh, Rhysie?” Rhys quickly look to Jack, his shocked expression turning into a smirk.

“Yeah Angel, I am.”

 


End file.
